Daniel 2:31 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 2:31
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
thou · personal pronoun, 2nd person masculine singular
king
מַלְכָּ֗אmal.Ka'
H4430
a king · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
sawest
הֲוַ֙יְתָ֙ha.Vay.ta
H1934
to exist · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
behold
וַאֲל֨וּva.'a.Lu
H431
lo! · conjunction + interjection
great
חַד֙chad
H2298
as card. one · cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
image
צְלֵ֥םtze.Lem
H6755
an idolatrous figure · noun, common both genders singular absolute
This
דִּכֵּ֥ןdi.Ken
H1797
this · demonstrative particle
great
רַ֛בrav
H7229
abundant · adjective, both genders singular absolute
image
צַלְמָ֨אtzal.Ma'
H6755
an idolatrous figure · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
brightness
וְזִיוֵ֥הּve.zi.Veh
H2122
(figuratively) cheerfulness · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
excellent
יַתִּ֖ירya.Tir
H3493
preeminent · adjective, both genders singular absolute
stood
קָאֵ֣םka.'Em
H6966
to rise (in various applications · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
before
לְקָבְלָ֑ךְle.ka.ve.Lakh
H6903
(adverbially) in front of · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
form
וְרֵוֵ֖הּve.re.Veh
H7299
aspect · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
terrible
דְּחִֽילde.Chil
H1763
to slink · verb, active participle, masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Habakkuk 1:7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
Isaiah 13:11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and wil…
Ezekiel 28:7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy…
Daniel 7:3-17 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
Isaiah 25:3-5 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Luke 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 2:31-45
Daniel here gives full satisfaction to Nebuchadnezzar concerning his dream and the interpretation of it. That great prince had been kind to this poor prophet in his maintenance and education; he had been brought up at the king's cost, preferred at court, and the land of his captivity had hereby been made much easier to him than to others of his brethren. And now the king is abundantly repaid for all the expense he had been at upon him; and for receiving this prophet, though not in the name of a prophet, he had a prophet's reward, such a reward as a prophet only could give, and for which that wealthy mighty prince was now glad to be beholden to him. Here is,
I. The dream itself, Dan 2:31, Dan…
The world power in its totality appears as a colossal human form: Babylon the head of gold, Medo-Persia the breast and two arms of silver, GrÃ&brvbrco-Macedonia the belly and two thighs of brass, and Rome, with its Germano-Slavonic offshoots, the legs of iron and feet of iron and clay, the fourth still existing. Those kingdoms only are mentioned which stand in some relation to the kingdom of God; of these none is left out; the final establishment of that kingdom is the aim of His moral government of the world. The colossus of metal stands on weak feet, of clay. All man's glory is as ephemeral and worthless as chaff (compare Pe1 1:24). But the kingdom of God, small and unheeded as a "stone" o…
A great image - Representing the four great monarchies.
John Gill on Daniel 2:31
Thou, O king, sawest,.... Or, "wast seeing" (z); not with the eyes of his body, but in his fancy and imagination; as he was dreaming, he thought he saw such an appearance, so it seemed to him, as follows:
and behold a great image; or, "one great image" (a); not painted, but a massive statue made of various metals, as is afterwards declared: such, though not so large as this, as the king had been used to see, which he had in his garden and palace, and which he worshipped; but this was of a monstrous size, a perfect colossus, and but one, though it consisted of various parts; it was in the form of a great man, as Saadiah and Jacchiades observe; and represented each of the monarchies of this w…
The Church Fathers
Verse 31. "Thou sawest, O king, and behold there was, as it were, a large statue." Instead of "statue," that is a sculptured effigy, the only rendering used by Symmachus, others have translated it as "image," intending by this term to indicate a resemblance to future events. Let us go through the prophetic interpretation, and as we translate Daniel's words, let us explain at some length the matters which he briefly states.
It is made known that the devout as well as the impious see visions and dreams, as can be proved from Scripture.… Nebuchadnezzar, who worshiped images and ordered those who worshiped God to be cast into fire, saw a dream extending over the whole age of the world.… Thus, we cannot infer with absolute certainty that the one who has seen visions and dreams and apparitions is undoubtedly devout. For in the case of the devout person, the truth gushes up natural and pure in his mind, not worked through dreams but granted to the good through intelligence.
And it was fitting that the king, who prized the substances deemed precious among people, gold, and silver, and brass and iron, should identify these substances as the kingdoms that held sovereignty at different times in the life of humankind; but that the prophet should describe these same kingdoms under the likeness of beasts, in accordance with the manner of their rule. And again, the king—who was puffed up, so it appears, in his own conceit and prided himself on the power of his ancestors—is shown the vicissitude to which affairs are subject and the end destined for all the kingdoms of the earth. This is done in order to teach him humility and understand that there is nothing lasting among people but only that which is appointed the end of all things—the kingdom of God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Babylon — The Greek form of BABEL; Semitic form Babilu, meaning “The Gate of God.” In the Assyrian tablets it means “The city of the dispersion of the tribes.” The monumental list of its kings reaches back to…
Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Daniel 2:31-35
31. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
31. Tu rex videbas, et ecce imago una grandis, imago illa magna, et splendor ejus [145] pretiosus [146] stabat coram te et species ejus terribilis.
32. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
32. Hujus imaginis caput ex auro bono, [147] pectus ejus et brachia ejus ex argento, venter ejus et femora ejus ex aere, oes
33. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
33. Crura ejus ex ferro, [148] pedes ejus partim ex ferro, et partim testa.…
Daniel's willingness to declare his dream to the king; his prayer for a revelation of the secret, and the answer to his prayer; his explanation before the king.
Dan 2:14
Through Daniel's judicious interview of Arioch, the further execution of the royal edict was interrupted. וּטעם עטא התיב, he answered, replied, counsel and understanding, i.e., the words of counsel and understanding; cf. Pro 26:16. The name Arioch appears in Gen 14:1 as the name of the king of Ellasar, along with the kings of Elam and Shinar. It is derived not from the Sanscr. ârjaka, venerabilis, but is probably formed from ארי, a lion, as נסרך from nisr = נשׁר. רב־טבּחיּא is the chief of the bodyguard, which was regarded…
The progression downward is one of value: from the most valuable, gold (2:32), to the least valuable, iron and baked clay (2:33).
Rashi on Daniel 2:31
you were watching [as translated,] you were watching.
and behold Aram. וַאֲלוּ, an expression of “behold.”
an image which had a large base [as translated,] an image which had a large base.
with unusual splendor, was standing opposite you [as translated,] standing opposite you.
and its form was frightening [as translated,] and its form was frightening.
