What Does Daniel 1:5 Mean?
And the king measured out for them a daily portion of the king's bread and of the wine he drank, growing them for three years, so that at its edge they might stand before the face of the king.
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 the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.THE KEY
The king’s table does more than feed them: its daily provision is the means by which they are grown for a place before him.
THE MEANING
What reaches you day by day also shapes the capacity with which you stand before power. Here, the king’s ration nourishes the young men toward a place in the king’s presence; feeding is already part of their preparation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The food you receive only keeps you alive and has no part in shaping what you become.
THE ROOT
לְגַדְּלָם
ûləgaddəlām
GROWS FROM
גדל
to grow, become great, or cause to grow
The Hebrew word carries the sense of raising or growing them, beyond simply keeping them alive. Their daily provision is tied to their formation and to the moment they stand before the king.
ALSO GROWS
gādal: To grow or become great.
גָּדַל
This is the root’s verbal form: the verse describes the young men being raised over three years.
gādōl: Great or large.
גָּדוֹל
This adjective shares the root and shows that growth can lead to increase in stature or importance.
migdāl: A tower or raised structure.
מִגְדָּל
The word names something built upward, giving a concrete image of the root’s sense of rising or growing.
יַעַמְדוּ
yaʿamdu
GROWS FROM
עמד
to stand, remain, or take a position
The three years of raising culminate in a position: they are brought to stand in the king’s presence. The root holds both the bodily act of standing and the place one occupies.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāmad: To stand or remain.
עָמַד
This is the root verb used for their final posture before the king.
maʿamad: A standing, station, or status.
מַעֲמָד
The word makes explicit the position implied when they stand before the king.
ʿammūd: A pillar or column.
עַמּוּד
A pillar is a standing support; the shared root connects standing with holding a place.
וַיְמַן
wayman
GROWS FROM
מנה
to count, reckon, assign, or allot
“measured out” in this verse is wayman. The verb translated “appointed” belongs to a root that also names an allotted portion. The king’s food is a measured, repeated assignment, and the young men’s formation takes place through what is given day by day.
ALSO GROWS
mānāh: To count, number, or assign.
מָנָה
This verbal form names the act of assigning the provision in the verse.
mānāh: A portion or allotted share.
מָנָה
This noun shares the root and illuminates the provision as a share set out for them.
THE PATTERN
Repeated provision can form the readiness and responsibility it is meant to sustain.
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 Lord said, "Who then is the steady and wise steward whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their measure of grain in due season?"But firm food is for the complete, for those who through practice have their senses exercised to sift good from evil.THE THREAD
And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, the one drawn out, and she said, Because from the waters I drew him out.The same Hebrew root, גדל, marks the child’s growth before he enters Pharaoh’s household. In Daniel, the young men are grown toward standing before a king; the shared root makes growth the hinge between nourishment and where someone stands.
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