Daniel 2:31
New International Version
“Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance.

New Living Translation
“In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight.

English Standard Version
“You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.

Berean Standard Bible
As you, O king, were watching, a great statue appeared. A great and dazzling statue stood before you, and its form was awesome.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
“You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.

New American Standard Bible
“You, O king, were watching and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary radiance, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.

NASB 1995
“You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.

NASB 1977
“You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.

Legacy Standard Bible
“You, O king, were looking, and behold, there was a single great image; that image, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was rising up in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.

Amplified Bible
“You, O king, were looking, and behold, [there was] a single great statue; this image, which was large and of unsurpassed splendor, stood before you, and its appearance was awesome and terrifying.

Christian Standard Bible
“Your Majesty, as you were watching, suddenly a colossal statue appeared. That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
My king, as you were watching, a colossal statue appeared. That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying.

American Standard Version
Thou, O king, sawest, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
You, oh King, you were seeing, and behold, one image that was very great, its brightness was extreme and it stood before you. Its appearance was awesome!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold an image: that image was great, and the appearance of it excellent, standing before thy face; and the form of it was terrible.

Contemporary English Version
Your Majesty, what you saw standing in front of you was a huge and terrifying statue, shining brightly.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold there was as it were a great statue: this statue, which was great and high, tall of stature, stood before thee, and the look thereof was terrible.

English Revised Version
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Your Majesty, you had a vision. You saw a large statue. This statue was very bright. It stood in front of you, and it looked terrifying.

Good News Translation
"Your Majesty, in your vision you saw standing before you a giant statue, bright and shining, and terrifying to look at.

International Standard Version
"Your majesty, while you were watching, you observed an enormous statue. This magnificent statue stood before you with extraordinary brilliance. Its appearance was terrifying.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was surpassing, stood before thee; and the appearance thereof was terrible.

Literal Standard Version
You, O king, were looking, and behold, a certain great image. This image [is] mighty, and its brightness excellent; it is standing before you, and its appearance [is] terrible.

Majority Standard Bible
As you, O king, were watching, a great statue appeared. A great and dazzling statue stood before you, and its form was awesome.

New American Bible
“In your vision, O king, you saw a statue, very large and exceedingly bright, terrifying in appearance as it stood before you.

NET Bible
"You, O king, were watching as a great statue--one of impressive size and extraordinary brightness--was standing before you. Its appearance caused alarm.

New Revised Standard Version
“You were looking, O king, and lo! there was a great statue. This statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening.

New Heart English Bible
You, O king, saw, and look, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was extraordinary, stood before you; and its appearance was awesome.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and its form was terrible.

World English Bible
“You, O king, saw, and behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and its appearance was terrifying.

Young's Literal Translation
Thou, O king, wast looking, and lo, a certain great image. This image is mighty, and its brightness excellent; it is standing over-against thee, and its appearance is terrible.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Daniel Interprets the Dream
30And to me this mystery has been revealed, not because I have more wisdom than any man alive, but in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind. 31As you, O king, were watching, a great statue appeared. A great and dazzling statue stood before you, and its form was awesome. 32The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze,…

Cross References
Daniel 3:1
King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

Daniel 4:36
At the same time my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne, and surpassing greatness was added to me.

Habakkuk 1:7
They are dreaded and feared; from themselves they derive justice and sovereignty.


Treasury of Scripture

You, O king, saw, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and the form thereof was terrible.

sawest.

Daniel 7:3-17
And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another…

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.

terrible.

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 will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

Isaiah 25:3-5
Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee…

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 wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

Jump to Previous
Appearance Aspect Awesome Bright Brightness Excellent Extraordinary Fear Form Frightening Front Glory Great Heart Image Large Mighty Over-Against Placed Sawest Single Splendor Standing Statue Stood Surpassing Terrible Thereof Wast
Jump to Next
Appearance Aspect Awesome Bright Brightness Excellent Extraordinary Fear Form Frightening Front Glory Great Heart Image Large Mighty Over-Against Placed Sawest Single Splendor Standing Statue Stood Surpassing Terrible Thereof Wast
Daniel 2
1. Nebuchadnezzar, forgetting his dream,
5. requires it of the Chaldeans, by promises and threats.
10. They acknowledging their inability are judged to die.
14. Daniel obtaining some respite finds the dream.
19. He blesses God.
24. He staying the decree is brought to the king.
31. The dream.
36. The interpretation.
46. Daniel's advancement.














(31) A great image.--Properly, one great image. This is one important feature in the vision. The image, though representing many things, was itself only "one." (See Note on Daniel 2:1.) That the image was of human form is evident from the further descriptions of the various parts of the body given in Daniel 2:32-33; Daniel 2:42. The "greatness" of the image implies the magnificence and size of it. As will be shortly seen, throughout the various parts it represented the many complex phases of the one history of the world.

Verse 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. The Greek versions do not require notice, as they do not imply any difference in reading from the Massoretic text. The Peshitta is shorter, "Thou, O king, wert seeing, and, lo! a great image of beauty exceeding excellent, and it stood before thee." The opening clause of the next verse may be regarded as taking up the last clause of the verse before us. As to the Aramaic of the passage, it is to be observed that the s, me long form of the second person is used in ver. 29. The numeral חַד (had) is used in this verse very much in the sense of the English indefinite article which is used to translate it in the English versions. It is represented in the Greek Version by μία. The particle אְלַוּ ('ulu)," behold," does not occur in the Targums; a cognate form occurs in Samaritan, hala. In Talmudic it occurs in a form like the Samaritan. This word occurs in ch. 7, varied by אֲרוּ ('aru), which is regarded as a phonetic variation. It may, however, be due to defective penmanship, having the top of the ל too faintly written. Its etymology is doubtful. No Assyrian root has been found from which it may be derived. The word for "image," צֶלֶם (tzelem), occurs in the Palmyrene inscriptions, as the regular term for a memorial statue. Hence, unless reason can be shown to the contrary, we could assume, even though there had been no more, that the figure was like a statue of a man. The word for this, דִכֵּן (diccen), occurs only in Daniel; the corresponding word in Ezra is דֵך (dec). The n sound is one that so readily slips away, that its presence as a final letter is a sign that the form of a word possessing it is in an older stage than that without it; hence we would argue that as דֵך (dec) is older than דָא (da) of the Targums, so דִכֵּן (diccen) of Daniel is older than דֵך (dec). The word that is most interesting is זִיוֵהּ (ziveh); it is rendered "brightness" in our version. It is recognized by Professor Bevan, on the authority of Delitzsch, as an Assyrio-Babylonian word, therefore affording an additional evidence of the Eastern origin of Daniel. Noldeke would derive it from the Persian zeb (quoted by Behrmann, but there is some mistake in his reference). This tendency to derive everything from the Persian is to be suspected. The long political connection between Babylon and the Aryan nations north and east of it might easily introduce words of such an origin into the writings of a Babylonian diplomat. Another derivation is from זָחָה (zahah), but seems doubtful, as, although in Hebrew, there is no trace of such a verb in Aramaic. The only other word that merits note is רֵוֵה (reve), "appearance." Professor Bevan says it is the only appearance in Aramaic of a corresponding root to the Hebrew רָאָה (ra'ah), "to see." Daniel, it will be seen, lays stress on the emotions which each feature excited, in order to recall, not only the dream, but something of the feelings with which Nebuchadnezzar had beheld it. With this dream of Nebuchadnezzar we might compare the dream of the seer of Asshurbanipal, given by Lenormant ('La Divination,' p. 137), "The seer (voyant) narrated to Asshurbanipal how the goddess Istar had stood before him seated in her chariot, surrounded by flame, with a bow in her hand" (see also Smith's 'Assurbanipal,' pp. 123. 124). It is unlikely that the colossal image was identified by Nebuchadnezzar with any one of the Babylonian gods; perhaps this was one of the elements of the terror excited by the vision, that he could not identify him. If he did make any identification, Daniel does not do anything to justify him in any such identification.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
As you,
תתן־ (’ant)
Pronoun - second person masculine singular
Strong's 607: You

O king,
מַלְכָּ֗א (mal·kā)
Noun - masculine singular determinate
Strong's 4430: A king

were watching,
חָזֵ֤ה (ḥā·zêh)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 2370: To gaze upon, mentally to dream, be usual

a
חַד֙ (ḥaḏ)
Number - masculine singular
Strong's 2298: As card, one, single, first, at once

great
שַׂגִּ֔יא (śag·gî)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7690: Great, much

statue
צְלֵ֥ם (ṣə·lêm)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6755: An idolatrous figure

appeared.
וַאֲל֨וּ (wa·’ă·lū)
Conjunctive waw | Interjection
Strong's 431: Lo!

A great
רַ֛ב (raḇ)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7229: Abundant

and dazzling
וְזִיוֵ֥הּ (wə·zî·wêh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 2122: Brightness, splendor

statue
צַלְמָ֨א (ṣal·mā)
Noun - masculine singular determinate
Strong's 6755: An idolatrous figure

stood
קָאֵ֣ם (qā·’êm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 6966: To arise, stand

before you,
לְקָבְלָ֑ךְ (lə·qā·ḇə·lāḵ)
Preposition-l | second person masculine singular
Strong's 6903: In front of, before, because of, because that

and its form
וְרֵוֵ֖הּ (wə·rê·wêh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 7299: Appearance

[was] awesome.
דְּחִֽיל׃ (də·ḥîl)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 1763: To slink, to fear, be formidable


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OT Prophets: Daniel 2:31 You O king saw and behold (Dan. Da Dn)
Daniel 2:30
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