Daniel 6:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 6:13
Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine plural
said
וְאָמְרִין֮ve.'a.me.Rin
H560
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
before
קֳדָ֣םko.Dam
H6925
before · noun, common both genders singular construct
king
מַלְכָּא֒mal.Ka'
H4430
a king · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
Daniel
דָנִיֵּ֡אלda.ni.Yel
H1841
Danijel · proper noun, a man's name
of
מִןmin-
H4481
properly · preposition
children
בֵּןbên
H1123
a son (as a builder of the family name)
captivity
גָלוּתָ֜אga.lu.Ta'
H1547
captivity · noun, common feminine singular determined + particle of affirmation
Judah
יְה֗וּדye.Hud
H3061
properly · proper noun, a place name
regardeth
שָׂ֨םsam
H7761
to put (used in a great variety of applications · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
not
לָאla'-
H3809
not (the simple or abs. negation) · negative particle
thee
עֲלָ֤ךְa.la.yikh
H5922
above · preposition with the article + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
king
מַלְכָּא֙mal.Ka'
H4430
a king · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
decree
אֱסָרָ֖א'e.sa.Ra'
H633
an interdict · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
signed
רְשַׁ֑מְתָּre.Sham.ta
H7560
to record · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
maketh
בָּעֵ֖אba.'E'
H1156
to seek or ask · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
petition
בָּעוּתֵֽהּba.'u.Teh
H1159
a request · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
three
תְּלָתָה֙te.la.Tah
H8532
three or third · cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
times
וְזִמְנִ֤יןve.zim.Nin
H2166
an appointed occasion · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
day
בְּיוֹמָ֔אbe.yo.Ma'
H3118
a day · preposition + noun, common both genders singular 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 3:12 There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king,…
Daniel 2:25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make…
Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
Esther 3:8 And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy ki…
Daniel 5:13 Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the…
Daniel 1:6 Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:
Acts 17:7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 6:11-17
Here is 1. Proof made of Daniel's praying to his God, notwithstanding the late edict to the contrary (Dan 6:11): These men assembled; the came tumultuously together, so the word is, the same that was used Dan 6:6, borrowed from Psa 2:1, Why do the heathen rage? They came together to visit Daniel, perhaps under pretence of business, at that time which they knew to be his usual hour of devotion; and, if they had not found him so engaged, they would have upbraided him with his faint-heartedness and distrust of his God, but (which they rather wished to do) they found him on his knees praying and making supplication before his God. For his love they are his adversaries; but, like his father David…
That Daniel--contemptuously.
of . . . captivity of Judah--recently a captive among thy servants, the Babylonians--one whom humble obedience most becomes. Thus they aggravate his guilt, omitting mention of his being prime minister, which might only remind Darius of Daniel's state services.
regardeth not thee--because he regarded God (Act 4:19; Act 5:29).
Adam Clarke on Daniel 6:12
Shall be cast into the den of lions - Either this was the royal menagerie, like that place in the Tower of London, where wild beasts are kept for the king's pleasure, and the public amusement; or they were kept for the purpose of devouring certain criminals, which the laws might consign to that kind of death. This is most likely, from the case before us.
John Gill on Daniel 6:13
Then answered they, and spake before the king,.... Having obtained what they desired, a ratification of the decree, they open the whole affair to him they came about:
that Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king: they call him "that Daniel"; by way of contempt; and, to make him the more despicable, represent him not only as a foreigner, but a captive, and therefore ought to have been humble and obedient, as Jacchiades observes; and a Jewish captive too, of all people the most odious; and, though he had been raised from a low estate to great honour and dignity, yet such was his ingratitude, that he made no account of the king, nor of his orders,…
The Church Fathers
Verse 13. "Then they answered before the king and said, 'Daniel, who is of the captivity of Judah, has paid no heed to thy law...'" In order to magnify the dishonor involved in this contempt, they speak of the man who showed this contempt for the king's commands as a mere captive.
They said to him, "'Behold, Daniel, who is from the sons of the captivity of Judah, does not obey your decree and three times a day he asks from his God his petitions.' Then, the king when he heard the matter, was greatly grieved over it and he fought concerning Daniel in order to release him." [Daniel 6:13-14] For having known their machinations and that they hated Daniel because he was at that time wiser and more reputable than all of them and that they devised this plot against him, wanting to hand him over to beasts through a trap. Therefore the king questioned the satraps and asked whether he could be able to preserve him from danger.
And he prays "constantly" (deeds of virtue or fulfilling the commandments are included as part of prayer) who unites prayer with the deeds required and right deeds with prayer. For the only way we can accept the command to "pray constantly" as referring to a real possibility is by saying that the entire life of the saint taken as a whole is a single great prayer. What is customarily called prayer is, then, a part of this prayer. Now prayer in the ordinary sense ought to be made no less than three times each day. This is evident in the story of Daniel, who prayed three times each day when such great peril had been devised for him.
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
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…
Darius — The holder or supporter, the name of several Persian kings. (1.) Darius the Mede (Dan. 11:1), “the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes” (9:1). On the death of Belshazzar the Chaldean he…
Medes, Media — (middle land). Media lay northwest of Persia proper, south and southwest of the Caspian Sea, east of Armenia and Assyria, west and northwest of the great salt desert of Iran. Its greatest length was…
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.…
Temptation — (1.) Trial; a being put to the test. Thus God “tempted [Gen. 22: 1; R.V., ‘did prove’] Abraham;” and afflictions are said to tempt, i.e., to try, men (James 1:2, 12; comp. Deut. 8:2), putting their…
Civil Service · CORRUPTION IN — CORRUPTION IN
Conspiracy · .Daniel — .Daniel
Constitution · AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE RULER AND PEOPLE — AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE RULER AND PEOPLE
Daniel · .Courage and fi — .Courage and fi
Hatred · Exemplified: Enemies of Daniel — Exemplified: Enemies of Daniel
Indictments · .Daniel, on the charge of — .Daniel, on the charge of
Daniel 6:13
13. Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.
13. Tunc loquuti sunt, et dixerunt coram rege: Daniel, qui est ex filiis captivitatis Jehudah, non posuit super te, rex, sensum, [295] neque ad edictum quod obsignasti: et vicibus tribus in die precatur petitionem suam. [296]
Now, when Daniel's calumniators see that King Darius had no wish to defend his cause, they open up more freely what they had previously conceded; for, as we have said, if they had openly accused Daniel, their accusation could have been…
Daniel's offence against the law; his accusation, condemnation, and miraculous deliverance from the den of lions; and the punishment of his accusers.
The satraps did not wait long for Daniel's expected disregard of the king's prohibition. It was Daniel's custom, on bended knees, three times a day to offer prayer to his God in the upper chamber of his house, the window thereof being open towards Jerusalem. He continued this custom even after the issuing of the edict; for a discontinuance of it on account of that law would have been a denying of the faith and a sinning against God. On this his enemies had reckoned. They secretly watched him, and immediately reported his disregard of the king's…
as usual: Daniel’s regular prayer time established him in the daily worship of God. • Jerusalem was God’s chosen city (1 Kgs 11:36). Though the Temple was gone, it was unthinkable to forget Jerusalem (Ps 137:5-6). Someday, the Temple would be rebuilt (Isa 2:2-4; 44:28).
Rashi on Daniel 6:13
concerning the king’s decree concerning the infraction of the king’s decree, about which they had come to inform.
the thing is true [as translated,] the thing is true.
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).
