What Does Daniel 11:26 Mean?
Those who eat the bread of his portion break him, and his army floods over, and many pierced ones fall.
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
Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.THE KEY
The word translated “destroy” means “break,” so the ruler’s undoing begins at his own table.
THE MEANING
The people eating from the ruler’s portion break him; his army surges like a flood, and many fall slain. The verse shows collapse moving from a shared table into open violence, with the human cost left visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that feeding those closest to power guarantees their loyalty: here, those sustained by the ruler’s portion become the ones who break him.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁבְּרוּהוּ
yishberuhu
GROWS FROM
שבר
shabar
To break, shatter, or fracture.
The Hebrew says they will break him, giving “destroy” the force of fracture rather than vague defeat. His undoing begins with people eating from his own portion: the breach is inside the provision.
ALSO GROWS
shever: Breakage, fracture, or ruin.
שֶׁבֶר
This noun makes the force of the verb concrete: the people at his table bring a breach that ruins him.
mishbar: A breaker or sea wave.
מִשְׁבָּר
A breaker is a wave that breaks against the shore; beside the verse’s separate flood verb, it sharpens the image of force that overwhelms.
יִשְׁטוֹף
yishtof
GROWS FROM
שטף
shataph
To sweep over, flood, or overwhelm.
“floods over” in this verse is yishtof. The army’s movement is expressed with the language of a flood sweeping across its path. The verse’s collapse is not confined to the ruler: the force spreads, and many fall.
ALSO GROWS
sheteph: A flood or torrent.
שֶׁטֶף
This noun names the force implied by “overflow,” making the army’s advance feel like inundating water.
shoteph: Sweeping or rushing over.
שׁוֹטֵף
This form keeps the movement vivid: the army does not merely gather but sweeps through.
חֲלָלִים
chalalim
GROWS FROM
חלל
chalal
To pierce or wound.
“many pierced ones” in this verse is chalalim. The Hebrew word for the slain is built on the word for piercing or wounding. It keeps the ending of the verse physical and visible: the collapse leaves dead bodies, not merely a defeated power.
ALSO GROWS
chalal: A pierced or slain person.
חָלָל
The plural in this verse names the fallen as pierced ones, preserving the bodily cost of the violence.
mechullal: Pierced or wounded.
מְחֻלָּל
This related form carries the same wound into the description of the people who lie slain.
THE PATTERN
A shared table can hide a breach of loyalty: those who receive provision may become agents of a ruler’s undoing.
Even the man of my wholeness, upon whom I leaned my weight, eats my bread and lifts his heel against me.And he answered and said, He who dips his hand with me in the dish, this one will hand me over.I do not speak of all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but so that the writing may be filled, the one who chews my bread has lifted up his heel against me.THE THREAD
He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken.Daniel’s “break him” and Psalm’s “broken” share שבר (shabar), meaning to break or fracture. The same root makes the contrast striking: one ruler is broken by those at his table, while this verse speaks of bones kept unbroken.
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