What Does Daniel 11:27 Mean?
Both these kings' hearts are set on doing harm, and at one table they speak words that fail, but it does not break through, for the end is still at the appointed time.
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 both these kings’ hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.THE KEY
A shared table does not turn agreement into truth; the lie sent across it still cannot cross its appointed limit.
THE MEANING
Powerful people can sit at one table and coordinate around a lie; proximity and agreement do not make their speech true. Their plan does not gain the power to break through simply because they share it. The end remains bounded by a set time.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a lie becomes inevitable when enough powerful people agree to repeat it.
THE ROOT
תִּצְלָח
titslach
GROWS FROM
צלח
To pass through, advance, or succeed.
“break through” in this verse is titslach. English “prosper” can sound like receiving wealth, but צלח (ts-l-ḥ; tsalach) centers on passing through and advancing. The verse says the lie does not get through to its intended end; the appointed time, not the kings’ pact, sets the horizon.
ALSO GROWS
tsalach: Advance, succeed, prosper.
צָלַח
This is the root verb behind “prosper”; its sense of advancement sharpens what the verse says will fail to happen.
hitsliach: Cause to succeed, make prosper.
הִצְלִיחַ
This form shows the root can describe bringing a plan to success, the very outcome their lie does not achieve.
מוֹעֵד
mo'ed
GROWS FROM
יעד
To appoint, designate, or set a meeting.
מוֹעֵד (mo’ed) means an appointed time and can also name an appointed meeting or occasion. The kings’ joint intention occupies a moment, but it cannot appoint the final meeting with the end.
ALSO GROWS
ya'ad: Appoint, designate, arrange to meet.
יָעַד
The root places the timing in something appointed, beyond the kings’ ability to dictate through their agreement.
mo'ed: Appointed time, appointed meeting or occasion.
מוֹעֵד
The end arrives at a set time; the verse gives the conspiracy a boundary.
שֻׁלְחָן
shulchan
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send forth, extend, or release.
The table’s name carries the echo of what is sent outward: provision extended, or words sent across. Here the table does not make the kings’ words nourishing or true; shared access can carry a coordinated lie.
ALSO GROWS
shalach: Send, send forth, release.
שָׁלַח
The kings send their words across one table, but those words do not advance into the outcome they intend.
shaliach: Messenger or emissary; one sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
This branch makes the root’s outward movement concrete: what is sent carries the sender’s purpose, as the kings’ speech carries their deception.
THE PATTERN
A united human plan cannot force itself into success or set the time at which its outcome is resolved.
The LORD breaks the counsel of nations; he undoes the plans of peoples.Many plans are in the heart of a man, but the counsel of the LORD, it will stand.And now I say to you, Stand away from these men and release them. For if this counsel or this work is of humankind, it will come undone.THE THREAD
You lay out a table before my face, in full view of those who press me. You make my head rich with oil; my cup is soaked full.Psalm 23:5 uses the same word, שֻׁלְחָן (shulchan, table): a table is prepared even with enemies present. The shared word turns attention to what the table carries, deception here, sustaining provision there, so its presence alone proves neither trust nor betrayal.
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