Discovery BoxDaniel 2:40 
Context2:40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom, one strong like iron. Just like iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and as iron breaks in pieces 1 all of these metals, 2 so it will break in pieces and crush the others. 3
Daniel 3:25
Context3:25 He answered, “But I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!” 4
1 tc Theodotion and the Vulgate lack the phrase “and as iron breaks in pieces.”
2 tn The Aramaic text does not have this word, but it has been added in the translation for clarity.
3 tn The words “the others” are supplied from the context.
4 sn The phrase like that of a god is in Aramaic “like that of a son of the gods.” Many patristic writers understood this phrase in a christological sense (i.e., “the Son of God”). But it should be remembered that these are words spoken by a pagan who is seeking to explain things from his own polytheistic frame of reference; for him the phrase “like a son of the gods” is equivalent to “like a divine being.”
