What does Daniel 2:31 mean?
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was bothered by a dream (Daniel 2:1–3). He seems suspicious of his royal magicians, so he tests their conjuring by asking them to tell him what he'd dreamed. If they can't, he has no reason to think they have insight. In fact, it would suggest they've been lying about their power (Daniel 2:4–9). Daniel, however, was gifted by God with a special vision (Daniel 2:17–19) and will meet the king's challenge. In this way, he will prove that what he says is information from a truly divine source (Daniel 2:27–28, 46–47). So, Daniel begins by describing what no one other than Nebuchadnezzar and the Lord God could know: the contents of the king's dream.The king's dream began with a huge, powerful, extremely bright image. The image was a gigantic statue in the form of a human. The image was so large and brilliant, and so close to Nebuchadnezzar, that it terrified him. This explains part of what the king meant that his dream was "troubling" and caused him to lose sleep (Daniel 2:1). An unrestricted ruler over millions of people was nevertheless petrified by the image he saw in his dream. Daniel's description of Nebuchadnezzar's dream must have convinced him that Daniel truly knew what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed. He did not interrupt Daniel as Daniel continued with the description of the image (Daniel 2:32).