Daniel 4:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 4:7
Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.
to enter · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
magicians
חַרְטֻמַיָּא֙char.tu.mai.Ya'
H2749
a horoscopist (as drawing magical lines or circles) · noun, common masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
astrologers
אָֽשְׁפַיָּ֔א'a.she.fai.Ya'
H826
a conjurer · noun, common masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
Chaldeans
כַּשְׂדָּאֵ֖יkas.dai
H3779
a Chaldaean or inhabitant of Chaldaea · noun, gentilic masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
soothsayers
וְגָזְרַיָּ֑אve.ga.ze.rai.Ya'
H1505
to quarry · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
I
אֲנָה֙'a.Nah
H576
I · personal pronoun
told
אָמַ֤ר'a.Mar
H560
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
dream
וְחֶלְמָ֗אve.chel.Ma'
H2493
a dream · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
before
קֳדָ֣מֵיה֔וֹןko.Da.mei.Hon
H6925
before · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
not
לָאla'-
H3809
not (the simple or abs. negation) · negative particle
known
מְהוֹדְעִ֥יןme.hod.'In
H3046
to know (properly · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine plural absolute
interpretation
וּפִשְׁרֵ֖הּu.fish.Reh
H6591
an interpretation · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd 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
Isaiah 44:25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
Daniel 2:7 They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.
Genesis 41:8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men…
Jeremiah 27:9-10 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which…
Daniel 2:1-2 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake…
Daniel 2:10 The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no k…
Daniel 2:27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the mag…
2 Timothy 3:8-9 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 4:4-18
Nebuchadnezzar, before he relates the judgments of God that had been wrought upon him for his pride, gives an account of the fair warning he had of them before they came, a due regard to which might have prevented them. But he was told of them, and of the issue of them, before they came to pass, that, when they did come to pass, by comparing them with the prediction of them, he might see, and say, that they were the Lord's doing, and might be brought to believe that there is a divine revelation in the world, as well as a divine Providence, and that the works of God agree with his word.
Now, in the account he here gives of his dream, by which he had notice of what was coming, we may observe,…
It may seem strange that Daniel was not first summoned. But it was ordered by God's providence that he should be reserved to the last, in order that all mere human means should be proved vain, before God manifested His power through His servant; thus the haughty king was stripped of all fleshly confidences. The Chaldees were the king's recognized interpreters of dreams; whereas Daniel's interpretation of the one in Dan. 2:24-45 had been a peculiar case, and very many years before; nor had he been consulted on such matters since.
Adam Clarke on Daniel 4:5
I saw a dream - See this dream circumstantially explained in the following verses.
John Gill on Daniel 4:7
Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers,.... See Gill on Daniel 2:2,
and I told the dream before them, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof; because they could not; before they pretended, if the dream was told, they could give the interpretation of it; but now, though it was told, they could not do it; which shows the vanity of their art, the falsehood of their pretensions, and that they were but jugglers and impostors.
John Calvin
The Church Fathers
Then he described what happened in his second vision, as none of the magicians, soothsayers, and Chaldeans were able to declare the matter to the king, until Daniel was called who also described to Nebuchadnezzar his first vision, so that in all things God might glorify his own slaves the prophets beyond the other barbarians and foreign nations, who pretend to be flattered in their human wisdom, having practiced earthly learning. For grace and gifts are from above from God, they are from heaven, which furnish their wealth to the worthy, which the blessed prophets partake by the Holy Spirit and are always made to understand. Just as also the apostle wrote to the Corinthians saying, "And I myself came to you not proclaiming words which are taught by human wisdom, but proclaiming to you the mystery of Christ, rather in words taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things with spiritual things." [1 Corinthians 2:13] And so in this way also the earthly wisdom of all the wise men in Babylon became foolish, who were not able to interpret the dream of the king, until one came, named Daniel, who had the Holy Spirit of God in him, just as the king himself also testified and proved it in many ways, and he set it forth to the people in writing, so that not only would Daniel be shown as being honored by the king himself, but also by all who were subjected to the king, so that he may be named as a man of God and a great prophet. Just as also the Egyptians, who long ago saw the wonderful works in the ten plagues which came upon them through Moses, were afraid and so they named him Mennouthim, which is in Egyptian, "Man of God." For "Mennou" is called man, and "Thim" is called God. And in this way Nebuchadnezzar testified concerning Daniel that, "he has the Holy Spirit of God in him." [Daniel 4:8]
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
Media — Heb. Madai, which is rendered in the Authorized Version (1) “Madai,” Gen. 10:2; (2) “Medes,” 2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; (3) “Media,” Esther 1:3; 10:2; Isa. 21:2; Dan. 8:20; (4) “Mede,” only in Dan. 11:1.…
Astrology · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Chaldeans · Learned and wise men of the east — Learned and wise men of the east
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).
on Daniel 4:7
Daniel 4:7
7. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers: I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.
7. Tunc ingressi sunt magi, astrologi, Chaldaei, hoc est, sapientes, et physici, vel, mathematici, et somnium, inguit, exposui ego coram ipsis, et interpretationem ejus non patefecerunt mihi.
With respect to the words used above, we have formerly freed ourselves from all trouble, because we cannot accurately define what science each professed. Clearly enough they covered their shamelessness by honorable titles, although they gave themselves up to every possible imposture. They called themselves by the us…
Therefore Nebuchadnezzar commanded the wise men of Babylon (Dan 2:2) to be called to him, that they might interpret to him the dream. But they could not do so, although on this occasion he only asked them to give the interpretation, and not, as in Dan 2:2, at the same time the dream itself. Instead of the Kethiv עללין, the Keri here and at Dan 5:8 gives the contracted form עלּין, which became possible only by the shortening of , as in חשׁחן Dan 3:16. The form אחרין is differently explained; apparently it must be the plur. masc. instead of אחרן, and אחרין עד, to the last, a circumlocution of the adverb at last. That אחרין means posterus, and אחרן alius, Hitzig has not yet furnished the proof.…
The professionals could not interpret the dream even though it was told to them this time (cp. 2:1-11). Their dream manuals failed them (see study note on 2:4). • astrologers: See also 2:5, 10; 3:8; 5:7, 11, 30.
Rashi on Daniel 4:6
and no secret is hidden from you No mystery is robbed [from you] or denied you.
