What Does Daniel 10:5 Mean?
Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz.
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
Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:THE KEY
The vision begins with a lifted gaze, and the Hebrew verb holds lifting and bearing in the same root.
THE MEANING
Your attention lifts, and a figure comes into view in precise detail: linen clothing, fine gold around the loins. Seeing brings this presence into focus before any words or explanation appear. The image has a body, clothing, and a visible form.
THE ROOT
וָאֶשָּׂא
va'essa
GROWS FROM
נשא
nasa
to lift, carry, or bear
“lifted my eyes” in this verse is va'essa. English preserves the upward motion but hides that the same root also carries what weighs. The first movement in the verse is a lifting verb whose word family holds elevation and bearing together.
ALSO GROWS
massa: burden, load; also an oracle or pronouncement
מַשָּׂא
A burden is something carried, showing the root’s reach from lifting eyes to bearing weight.
nasi: leader or prince; traditionally connected with one raised up
נָשִׂיא
This branch carries the root’s other direction: what is lifted can become what leads.
וָאֶרְאֶה
va'ereh
GROWS FROM
ראה
ra'ah
to see or perceive
“looked” in this verse is va'ereh. The root ראה gives both seeing and מַרְאֶה (mareh), appearance or vision: the act of perceiving and what comes into view belong to one word family. Here, sight brings a visible form into focus rather than leaving the encounter as an abstract message.
ALSO GROWS
mareh: appearance, vision
מַרְאֶה
This branch names what is seen, joining the verse’s act of looking to the figure’s visible form.
ro'eh: seer, one who sees
רֹאֶה
The seer and the act of seeing share the root that gives this moment its force.
THE PATTERN
When sight opens, what lies beyond notice takes visible form.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and look, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and raised him up as a rising offering in place of his son.And Elisha prayed and said, LORD, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and look, the mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.And their eyes were thrown open, and they recognized him, and he became unseen to them.THE THREAD
And in the middle of the seven lampstands is one like a Son of Man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded about the breasts with a golden belt.This vision presents a similar figure: clothed to the feet and girded with gold. The parallel makes Daniel’s linen and gold part of a recurring visual grammar for a heavenly appearance.
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