Daniel 5:11

There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
is	אִיתַ֨י 'i.Tai	H383	properly · noun, common both genders singular construct
man	גְּבַ֜ר ge.Var	H1400	a person · noun, common both genders singular absolute
kingdom	בְּמַלְכוּתָ֗ךְ be.mal.khu.Takh	H4437	dominion (abstractly or concretely) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
spirit	ר֣וּחַ Ru.ach	H7308	wind · noun, common both genders singular construct
holy	קַדִּישִׁין֮ ka.di.Shin	H6922	sacred (ceremonially or morally) · adjective, masculine plural absolute
gods	אֱלָהִ֣ין 'e.la.Hin	H426	God · noun, common masculine plural absolute
days

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

Daniel 4:8-9 But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the hol…
Daniel 2:47-48 The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, s…
Daniel 4:18 This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of m…
Daniel 5:14 I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.
Genesis 41:11-15 And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.
2 Samuel 14:17 Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern g…
Daniel 2:11 And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is…
Acts 12:22 And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 5:10-29

Here is, I. The information given to the king, by the queen-mother, concerning Daniel, how fit he was to be consulted in this difficult case. It is supposed that this queen was the widow of Evil-Merodach, and was that famous Nitocris whom Herodotus mentions as a woman of extraordinary prudence. She was not present at the feast, as the king's wives and concubines were (Dan 5:2); it was not agreeable to her age and gravity to keep a merry night. But, tidings of the fright which the king and his lords were put into being brought to her apartment, she came herself to the banqueting-house, to recommend to the king a physician for his melancholy. She entreated him not to be discouraged by the insu…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 5:11

spirit of the holy gods--She remembers and repeats Nebuchadnezzar's language (Dan 4:8-9, Dan 4:18). As Daniel was probably, according to Oriental custom, deprived of the office to which Nebuchadnezzar had promoted him, as "master of the magicians" (Dan 4:9), at the king's death, Belshazzar might easily be ignorant of his services. the king . . . thy father the king . . . thy father--The repetition marks with emphatic gravity both the excellencies of Daniel, and the fact that Nebuchadnezzar, whom Belshazzar is bound to reverence as his father, had sought counsel from him in similar circumstances.

Adam Clarke on Daniel 5:11

Nebuchadnezzar thy father - See the note on Dan 5:1 (note).

John Gill on Daniel 5:11

There is a man in thy kingdom,.... She does not say in his court; very probably, after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, perhaps in one of the former reigns, he was removed from his offices; for, had he been in one, very likely the queen would have described him by it; and this seems to receive confirmation by the question Belshazzar put to him upon his coming into his presence, art thou that Daniel, &c.; and only says that he had heard of him, Daniel 5:13, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; something divine, something more than human; she uses the very words of Nebuchadnezzar; which seems to confirm that opinion, that she was his widow, Daniel 4:8, and in the days of thy father light and…

The Church Fathers

Now, by "alertness" she referred to vigilance of soul, and by "understanding" to a grasp of hidden things and an insight into what escaped many. "Your father King Nebuchadnezzar," she went on, "made him chief of magicians, soothsayers, astrologers, and fortune tellers," adding the reason, "because an extraordinary spirit was in him," that is, he has the surpassing grace of the Spirit.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 5:11

Verse 11. "'There is a man in thy kingdom who possesses within him the spirit of the holy gods.'" All the authorities except Symmachus, who adheres to the Chaldee original, render: "the spirit of God." "'...and in the days of thy father, wisdom, and knowledge were found in him...'" She calls Nebuchadnezzar his father, according to the custom of the Scriptures, even though, as we remarked before, he was actually his great-grandfather. But Daniel's godly manner of life even amongst the barbarians is worthy of our imitation, for the very grandmother or mother of the king extolled him with such words of praise because of the greatness of his virtues.
— Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER FIVE

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

Babel — (confusion), Bab’ylon (Greek form of Babel), is properly the capital city of the country which is called in Genesis Shinar, and in the later books Chaldea, or the land of the Chaldeans. The first…
Belshazzar — Bel protect the king!, the last of the kings of Babylon (Dan. 5:1). He was the son of Nabonidus by Nitocris, who was the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar and the widow of Nergal-sharezer. When still young…
Daniel — God is my judge, or judge of God. (1.) David’s second son, “born unto him in Hebron, of Abigail the Carmelitess” (1 Chr. 3:1). He is called also Chileab (2 Sam. 3:3). (2.) One of the four great…
Magi — (Authorized Version wise men).
Nergal-sharezer — Nergal, protect the king! (1.) One of the “princes of the king of Babylon who accompanied him in his last expedition against Jerusalem” (Jer. 39:3, 13). (2.) Another of the “princes,” who bore the…
Belshazzar · King of Babylon — King of Babylon
Daniel · .Promotion and executive authority of — .Promotion and executive authority of
Influence · 19:6;29:26; — 19:6;29:26;
Queen · Counsels the king — Counsels the king

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 5:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 5:10-29

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 5:11

Adam Clarke on Daniel 5:11

John Gill on Daniel 5:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Daniel 5:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 5:10-29

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 5:11

Adam Clarke on Daniel 5:11

John Gill on Daniel 5:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Daniel 5:10-11

Keil & Delitzsch on Daniel 5:11

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Daniel 5:11-12

Rashi on Daniel 5:11