And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.
Parallel translations
- WEB As the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
- KJV And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
- NKJV And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
- NASB And just as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong, and part of it will be fragile.
- NLT But while some parts of it will be as strong as iron, other parts will be as weak as clay.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As the toes are part iron and part clay, the kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile. Its strength is mixed with brittleness.
Overview
The detail reinforces the previous verse: this last earthly power, however formidable, is inherently unstable. Strength and fragility together mark the limits of all human empire. The contrast magnifies the stability of the coming kingdom of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Rev 13:1Then I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the sea. There were ten royal crowns on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.
- Dan 7:24And the ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom. After them another king, different from the earlier ones, will rise and subdue three kings.
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Christ at the center
Daniel sees the stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms, and 'one like a son of man' given everlasting dominion — titles and visions Jesus claims as his own.
How Daniel 2:42 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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