What Does Daniel 2:41 Mean in the King James?
And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The iron keeps its strength inside the kingdom, but strength does not make the divided parts one.
THE MEANING
You can see a structure that holds real strength and real division at the same time. Its materials are mixed, yet mixture does not make them adhere; the fracture belongs to the structure itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Strength does not guarantee cohesion.
THE ROOT
פְּלִיגָה
pəlīgāh
GROWS FROM
פלג
To split or divide into portions.
“divided” in this verse is pəlīgāh. The word pictures a whole partitioned within itself. A related Hebrew noun names a stream or channel, making division visible as separate courses within a connected flow.
ALSO GROWS
pālag: To divide or split.
פָּלַג
This verb carries the same action as the kingdom’s division.
peleg: A stream or channel.
פֶּלֶג
A channel is a distinct course within a flow, like parts that belong to one structure yet remain divided.
מְעָרַב
meʿārab
GROWS FROM
ערב
To mix or mingle.
“mixed” in this verse is meʿārab. The same Aramaic root appears again in the next verse, where the iron and clay still do not cleave to one another. Mixing describes contact, but it does not resolve whether the parts cohere.
ALSO GROWS
ʿārav: To mix or mingle.
עָרַב
The verb names the contact between iron and clay without making them one.
ʿērev rav: A mixed multitude.
עֵרֶב רַב
The same root can describe unlike people gathered together, showing that mixture alone does not establish unity.
THE PATTERN
A whole divided within itself remains unstable even when some of its parts are strong.
Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.THE THREAD
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.The Aramaic root translated “mixed” in this verse returns in 2:43. The next verse names the limit plainly: contact between the materials does not become adhesion, so division remains inside the mixture.
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