Bible Strands
Daniel 2:42
And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Daniel addresses King Nebuchadnezzar while interpreting the dream of a metallic statue, explaining that the iron-and-clay toes represent a future divided kingdom.
The words — The Aramaic terms parzel (iron) and chasaf (clay) denote the two materials mixed within the statue’s toes.
The thread — The image of fractured political cohesion reappears in Daniel 7:24 with ten kings rising from a divided realm and in Revelation 13:1 with a beast bearing ten crowned horns.
Why it lands — The text states the kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle, requiring the reader to acknowledge that forced political unions lacking natural cohesion will inevitably fail.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Daniel 7:24 And 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.
- Revelation 13:1 Then 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.