What Does Daniel 1:15 Mean?
At the edge of ten days their appearance was seen good, and full in flesh, more than all the children who ate the king's bread.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.THE KEY
The king’s table does not define nourishment; the bodies eating another portion visibly thrive.
THE MEANING
Your visible condition can tell a different story than the status of the portion placed before you. Here, nourishment is measured by what appears in the flesh, not presumed from a prestigious table.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A king’s portion must be the most nourishing, while a simpler portion must leave you diminished.
THE ROOT
טוֹב
ṭāḇ
GROWS FROM
טוב
Good, pleasing, favorable.
The Aramaic word behind “fairer” is ṭāḇ, meaning good or pleasing. The line calls their visible condition good, then names healthy flesh as its evidence; it reaches beyond a comparison of attractive faces.
ALSO GROWS
ṭov: Good, pleasing, beneficial.
טוֹב
This Hebrew cognate shows the same root’s range: goodness can describe a condition, not just appearance.
hēṭîḇ: To do good, make well.
הֵיטִיב
This verbal branch makes goodness tangible, fitting a verse where the bodies show the result.
נִרְאָה
nirʾeh
GROWS FROM
ראה
To see, look at, perceive.
“was seen” in this verse is nirʾeh. The Aramaic words for “appeared” and “countenances” belong to the same see-and-appearance family. English separates the visible condition from the act of appearing; the shared root makes the body’s condition something seen and assessed.
ALSO GROWS
rāʾāh: To see, look at, perceive.
רָאָה
This branch names the act of seeing that the comparison depends on.
marʾeh: Appearance, sight; what is seen.
מַרְאֶה
This is the word family behind “countenances,” linking their visible form directly to “appeared.”
THE PATTERN
What sustains life is not measured only by how impressive its provision appears.
And he bent you low, and made you hunger, and fed you with manna, which you had never perceived, nor had your fathers, so that he might make you perceive that humankind does not live by bread alone, but by every word that goes out from the mouth of the LORD does humankind live.And the jar of meal did not run out, nor did the flask of oil run short, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by the hand of Elijah.But he answered and said, It is written, Humankind shall not live by bread alone, but by every word going out through the mouth of God.THE THREAD
O taste and see that the LORD is good. Flourishing is the strong one who takes shelter in him.Daniel’s “fairer” is Aramaic ṭāḇ, a cognate of Hebrew ṭōḇ, “good,” and “appeared” comes from ראה, “to see.” Psalm 34:8 brings the same roots together: taste, see, and good, making goodness something encountered and visible.
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