Daniel 2:1-45
“Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image... This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay... And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.”
King James Version
Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the four-metal image — four successive kingdoms culminating in the stone, the everlasting kingdom of God.
Fulfillment References
Daniel 7:1-28 Daniel 2:44 Luke 1:33 Revelation 11:15
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalThe God of heaven sets up the everlasting kingdom in Jesus Christ — the stone cut without hands — the one God reigning over all (Dan. 2:44; cf. Acts 4:11).
JewishTraditionally four empires — Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome (Edom) — with the everlasting kingdom as the Messianic age; a classic rabbinic and medieval schema.
CatholicThe four kingdoms culminate in Rome, the stone being Christ's kingdom inaugurated at His first coming and consummated at the last.
ProtestantBabylon–Medo-Persia–Greece–Rome, with the stone as Christ's kingdom; a cornerstone of the 'prophecy of empires.'
OrthodoxThe succession of empires giving way to the imperishable kingdom of God in Christ.
DispensationalThe kingdoms end in a revived Roman empire (iron-and-clay feet) destroyed at Christ's return, when the stone-kingdom is set up on earth.
AcademicCritical scholars date Daniel's final form to the 2nd century BC (Maccabean crisis) and read the four kingdoms as Babylon–Media–Persia–Greece, a known Hellenistic-era four-empire motif; conservative scholars defend a 6th-century date and genuine prediction.
Scholarship & Sources
The four-kingdom schema (Dan. 2; cf. ch. 7) is traditionally Babylon-Medo-Persia-Greece-Rome; the critical view separates Media and Persia to end with Greece (linked to a proposed 2nd-century date). The 'feet of iron and clay' fuel the 'revived Rome' debate. See Baldwin and Goldingay on Daniel.
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Bible Prophecy Explorer · based on J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogue · an openly Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal study resource — all traditions presented fairly. Pastor: C. Myles Young, PhD · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.