Daniel 10:12 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 10:12
Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Fear
תִּירָ֣אti.Ra'
H3372
to fear · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
Daniel
דָנִיֵּאל֒da.ni.yeL
H1840
Daniel or Danijel · proper noun, a man's name
first
הָרִאשׁ֗וֹןha.ri.Shon
H7223
first · definite article + ordinal number, masculine singular absolute
day
הַיּ֣וֹםhai.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
set
נָתַ֧תָּna.Ta.ta
H5414
to give · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
heart
לִבְּךָ֛li.be.Kha
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
understand
לְהָבִ֧יןle.ha.Vin
H995
to separate mentally (or distinguish) · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
chasten
וּלְהִתְעַנּ֛וֹתu.le.hit.'a.Not
H6031
to depress literally or figuratively · conjunction + preposition + verb, hithpael infinitive construct
before
לִפְנֵ֥יlif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
God
אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ'e.lo.Hei.kha
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
words
דְבָרֶ֑יךָde.va.Rei.kha
H1697
a word · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
heard
נִשְׁמְע֣וּnish.me.'U
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural
come
בָ֖אתִיVa.ti
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
words
בִּדְבָרֶֽיךָbid.va.Rei.kha
H1697
a word · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 10:30-31 And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before…
Daniel 10:19 And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened…
Isaiah 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the y…
Daniel 9:20-23 And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LOR…
Acts 18:9-10 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee…
Isaiah 65:24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
Matthew 28:5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 10:10–end
Much ado here is to bring Daniel to be able to bear what Christ has to say to him. Still we have him in a fright, hardly and very slowly recovering himself; but he is still answered and supported with good words and comfortable words. Let us see how Daniel is by degrees brought to himself, and gather up the several passages that are to the same purport.
I. Daniel is in a great consternation and finds it very difficult to get clear of it. The hand that touched him set him at first upon his knees and the palms of his hands, Dan 10:10. Note, Strength and comfort commonly come by degrees to those that have been long cast down and disquieted; they are first helped up a little, and then more. Afte…
Fear not--Be not affrighted at my presence.
didst set thine heart to understand--what shall come to pass to thy people at the last times (compare Dan 10:14).
chasten thyself-- (Dan 10:2-3).
thy words were heard-- (Act 10:4). Prayer is heard at once in heaven, though the sensible answer may seem to be delayed. God's messenger was detained on the way (Dan 10:13) by the opposition of the powers of darkness. If in our prayers amidst long protracted sorrows we believed God's angel is on his way to us, what consolation it would give us!
for thy words--because of thy prayers.
Adam Clarke on Daniel 10:12
I am come for thy words - On account of thy prayers I am sent to comfort and instruct thee.
John Gill on Daniel 10:12
Then said he unto me, fear not, Daniel,.... Perceiving him to shake and tremble, and to be intimidated at his presence, he speaks comfortably to him, and encourages him to lay aside his fears, that he might be more capable of attending to what he was about to say to him; and which had a tendency of themselves to remove his fears, and increase his confidence in the Lord:
for from the first day thou didst set thine heart to understand; not so much the former visions which he had an understanding of, as the future state of his people; or rather, the reason of their present distressed condition, being hindered by their enemies in rebuilding their city and temple:
and to chasten thyself before…
The Church Fathers
"From the first day," that is, from that day when you began to fast, being inflamed by the desire to learn those things that you asked, so that you persevered in praying and supplicating before your God. "Your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words": your prayers led me, as well, to prepare a plan for the salvation of your people according to your vows.
"And he raised me from my knees and said to me, 'Daniel cherished man, understand in the words which I myself will speak to you and stand up in your place because now I am sent to you.' And when he spoke this word I stood trembling and he said to me, 'Do not be afraid Daniel because from the first day which you gave your heart to understand and to be afflicted before God, your words were heard.'" [Daniel 10:10-12] Behold, how strong the piety of the righteous man, so that the future things which have not yet been manifested in this world, are revealed to the worthy alone. First he was made to understand by the angel Gabriel, then secondly, by the Lord himself he was made wise.
Verse 12. "And he said to me: 'Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day when thou didst set thine heart to understand and to afflict thyself in the sight of thy God (variant: thy Lord), thy words have been heard and granted, and I have come forth in response to thy words" (Vulgate: on account of thy words). On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, that is, of Nisan, after three weeks or twenty-one days had elapsed, he beheld this vision, and he heard from the angel that on the very first day he had begun to pray and to afflict himself before God, his words had been heard and granted. The question arises why, if he had been heard, was the angel not sent to him right away. Well, by reason of the delay an opportunity was afforded him of praying to the Lord at greater length, so that in proportion as his earnest desire was intensified, he might by his effort the more fully deserve to hear. And as for the angel's statement, "And I have come in response to thy words," his meaning is this: "After thou didst begin to invoke God's mercy by good works and tearful supplication and fasting, then I for my part embraced the opportunity of entering in before God and praying for thee."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Prayer, Answers To · Granted: Sometimes immediately — Granted: Sometimes immediately
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Daniel 10:12
12. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
12. Et dixit ad me, ne timeas Daniel, quia a die primo quo adjecisti cor tuum ad, intelligendum, et affigendum te, vel, humiliandum, coram facie Dei tui, exaudita sunt verba tua: et ego veni in verbis tuis, hoc est, propter verba tua.
By the angel's commanding the Prophet to be of a serene and tranquil mind, we gather the continuance of his fright, and his being as yet unable to listen with composure. And yet this trembling improved his teachableness. Without the slightest do…
According to this verse, the words of Daniel, i.e., his prayer from the first day of his seeking to understand the future, and of his self-mortification in sorrow and fasting (Dan 10:2, Dan 10:3), was heard of God, and the angel was immediately sent forth by God to convey to him revelations. And, he adds, בּדבריך בּאתי, I am come for thy words, i.e., in consequence of thy prayer, according to it. The בּאתי most interpreters understand of the coming to Daniel; Hofmann (Schriftbew. i. p. 331) and Kliefoth, on the contrary, understand it of the coming of the angel to Persia (Dan 10:13). According to the matter, both views are correct, but in the form in which they are presented they are incorre…
and I have come because of your words I have come on this mission because of your words. Our Rabbis, however, explained in Tractate Yoma (77a): “and I came within the curtain because of you, for I was banned from its midst.”
