Daniel 5:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 5:7
The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
a king · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
cried
קָרֵ֤אka.Re'
H7123
to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
aloud
בְּחַ֔יִלbe.Cha.yil
H2429
an army · preposition + noun, common both genders singular absolute
bring
לְהֶֽעָלָה֙le.he.'a.Lah
H5954
to enter · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
astrologers
לְאָ֣שְׁפַיָּ֔אle.'A.she.fai.Ya'
H826
a conjurer · preposition + noun, common masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
Chaldeans
כַּשְׂדָּאֵ֖יkas.da.'e
H3779
a Chaldaean or inhabitant of Chaldaea · noun, gentilic masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
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 5:16 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to m…
Daniel 5:29 Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning…
Daniel 2:48 Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of th…
Genesis 41:42-44 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain…
Daniel 2:6 But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the d…
Daniel 6:2-3 And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damag…
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…
Numbers 22:7 And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 5:1-9
We have here Belshazzar the king very gay, but all of a sudden very gloomy, and in straits in the fulness of his sufficiency. See how he affronts God, and God affrights him; and wait what will be the issue of this contest; and whether he that hardened his heart against God prospered.
I. See how the king affronted God, and put contempt upon him. He made a great feast, or banquet of wine; probably it was some anniversary solemnity, in honour off his birthday or coronation-day, or in honour of some of their idols. Historians say that Cyrus, who was now with his army besieging Babylon, knew of this feast, and presuming that they then would be off their guard, somno vinoque sepulti - buried in sl…
He calls for the magicians, who more than once had been detected in imposture. He neglects God, and Daniel, whose fame as an interpreter was then well-established. The world wishes to be deceived and shuts its eyes against the light [CALVIN]. The Hebrews think the words were Chaldee, but in the old Hebrew character (like that now in the Samaritan Pentateuch).
third ruler--The first place was given to the king; the second, to the son of the king, or of the queen; the third, to the chief of the satraps.
Adam Clarke on Daniel 5:7
Whosoever shall read this writing - He knew it must be some awful portent, and wished to know what.
John Gill on Daniel 5:7
The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers,.... Or, "with strength" (n); with a strong voice, as loud as he could; which is expressive of the fright he was in, and of his eagerness and impatience of information; laying aside all decency, and forgetting his royal majesty, like a man out of his senses, quite distracted, as it were: of the "astrologers", &c. See Gill on Daniel 1:20, Daniel 2:2, this was the usual course the kings of Babylon took, when they had matters of difficulty upon them, as appears from Daniel 2:2 and though they found it oftentimes fruitless and vain, yet still they pursued it; so besotted and addicted were they to this kind of su…
The Church Fathers
Now we have to consider the mere ornaments and trappings of office. Each has its proper dress for daily and for ceremonial use. In Egypt and Babylon, the purple robe and gold necklaces were marks of rank, just as provincial priests have their golden wreaths and their robes of state.… But there was a difference in the obligation. They were conferred on men who earned the king's friendship, simply as a mark of honor.… Purple as such, then, was not yet a mark of high office among the barbarians, but of free birth. Joseph, who had been a slave, and Daniel, who had changed his status by captivity, attained citizenship of Egypt or Babylon by means of the garments that indicated free birth among the barbarians.
Verse 7. The king therefore cried out vehemently that the magicians should be brought in, and the Chaldeans and the soothsayers..." Forgetting about the experiences of Nebuchadnezzar, he was following after the ancient and ingrained error of his family, so that instead of summoning a prophet of God he summons the magicians and Chaldeans and soothsayers. "...he shall be clothed in purple and he shall have a golden necklace about his neck." It is, of course, ridiculous of me to argue about matters of gender in a commentary on the prophets; but inasmuch as an ignorant but ostentatious critic has rebuked me for changing "necklace" (torquis) from feminine to masculine, I will make the brief observation that while Cicero and Vergil use "necklace" in the feminine, Livy uses it in the masculine. "...and he shall be the third man in my kingdom..." That means either that he is to be third in rank after the king, or else one of the three princes of the realm - for we elsewhere read of the tristatai.
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…
Chain — (1.) A part of the insignia of office. A chain of gold was placed about Joseph’s neck (Gen. 41:42); and one was promised to Daniel (5:7). It is used as a symbol of sovereignty (Ezek. 16:11). The…
Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Soothsayer — One who pretends to prognosticate future events. Baalam is so called (Josh. 13:22; Heb. kosem, a “diviner,” as rendered 1 Sam. 6:2; rendered “prudent,” Isa. 3:2). In Isa. 2:6 and Micah 5:12 (Heb.…
Astrology · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Belshazzar · King of Babylon — King of Babylon
Chains · Worn by princes — Worn by princes
Chaldeans · Learned and wise men of the east — Learned and wise men of the east
a man · noun, common both genders singular absolute
read
יִקְרֵ֞הyik.Reh
H7123
to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
this
דְנָ֗הde.Nah
H1836
this · demonstrative particle
writing
כְּתָבָ֣הke.ta.Vah'
H3792
something written · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
shew
יְחַוִּנַּ֔נִיye.chav.vi.Na.ni
H2324
to show · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
interpretation
וּפִשְׁרֵהּ֙u.fish.Reh
H6591
an interpretation · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
clothed
יִלְבַּ֗שׁyil.Bash
H3848
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
scarlet
אַרְגְּוָנָ֣א'ar.ge.va.Na'
H711
purple · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
chain
וְהַֽמְנִיכָ֤אve.ha.mon.kha'
H2002
a necklace · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
gold
דַהֲבָא֙da.ha.Va'
H1722
gold · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
about
עַֽל'al-
H5922
above · preposition
neck
צַוְּארֵ֔הּtza.ve.Reh
H6676
the back of the neck (as that on which burdens are boun… · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
third
וְתַלְתִּ֥יve.tal.Ti
H8523
third · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular determined
ruler
יִשְׁלַֽטyish.Lat
H7981
to dominate · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
kingdom
בְמַלְכוּתָ֖אve.mal.khu.Ta'
H4437
dominion (abstractly or concretely) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular determined + particle of affirmation
Daniel 5:7
7. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
7. Clamavit rex fortiter, ut introducerentur magi, Chaldaei, et astrologi, [254] et loquutus est rex, et dixit sapientibus Babylonis, Quisquis legerit scripturam hanc, et interpretationem ejus indieaverit mihi, purpura vestietur, et torques ex auro, hoc est, aureus, super collum ejus, et tertius in regno dominabitur.
The Prophet narrates how King…
Since there are in this verse only three classes of wise men named as ordered to come to the king, to whom he promised the reward for the reading and the interpretation of the writing, and in Dan 5:8 it is first stated that all the king's wise men came, the probability, is, that at first the king commanded only the three classes named in Dan 5:7 to be brought to him. On this probability Kranichfeld founds the supposition that the king purposely, or with intention, summoned only the three classes named to avoid Daniel, whom he did not wish to consult, from his heathen religious fear of the God of the Jews. But this supposition is altogether untenable. For, first, it does not follow from Dan 8…
Purple robes and a gold chain are associated with royalty and power. • third highest: After Nabonidus and Belshazzar himself (see study note on 5:1).
Rashi on Daniel 5:7
aloud Aram. בְּחַיִל, lit. with strength.
to bring in [as translated,] to bring in.
this writing [as translated,] this writing.
shall wear purple following the custom of the nobles.
chain Aram. וְהַמְנִיכָא, medallion, necklace.
and rule over over a third of the kingdom [as translated,] and rule over a third of the kingdom.
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).
