What Does Daniel 11:36 Mean?
The king does according to his will, and he lifts himself up and grows great above every god. He speaks marvels against the God of gods, and he breaks through until the rage runs out, for what is cut is done.
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 shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.THE KEY
His self-exaltation can rise above every god, but it cannot set the end of its own prosperity.
THE MEANING
You see a ruler making his own desire the measure: he exalts himself above every god and speaks astonishing things against the God of gods. His prosperity is real, yet bounded; it lasts only until the indignation reaches its end, because what is determined comes to pass.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that visible success proves a self-exalting ruler has become ultimate: his prosperity has a boundary, and the determined outcome still comes to pass.
THE ROOT
וְיִתְגַּדֵּל
ve-yitgaddel
GROWS FROM
גדל
g-d-l
grow, become great
“grows great” in this verse is ve-yitgaddel. The Hebrew verb means that he makes himself great, a second image beside raising himself up. The English “magnify” can conceal this plain growth: his greatness swells by his own claim.
ALSO GROWS
gadol: great, large
גָּדוֹל
The same root names the greatness he claims for himself.
migdal: tower
מִגְדָּל
A tower rises in size and height, echoing the verse’s image of self-enlargement.
וְיִתְרוֹמֵם
ve-yitromem
GROWS FROM
רום
rum
be high, rise
“lifts himself up” in this verse is ve-yitromem. The verb pictures him raising himself, not merely thinking himself superior. Its height continues into “above every god,” making the claim a vertical ascent.
ALSO GROWS
ram: high, elevated
רָם
This adjective from the root describes the height the king claims for himself.
marom: height, high place
מָרוֹם
The same root can name a height, preserving the concrete upward image within “exalt.”
כִּרְצוֹנוֹ
kirtsono
GROWS FROM
רצה
r-ts-h
be pleased with, accept
The word translated “will” is built on ratzon, meaning pleasure or favor: the king acts according to what pleases him. The verse sets that self-directed desire beside an outcome that is determined beyond him.
ALSO GROWS
ratsah: be pleased with, accept
רָצָה
The verb reveals the pleasure and acceptance carried within the word translated “will.”
nirtsah: be accepted, be favorably received
נִרְצָה
This related form shows the root’s movement between what pleases and what is received with favor.
THE PATTERN
Self-exalting power can claim the highest place, yet its reach remains bounded by an outcome beyond its own will.
The lifted eyes of man shall be brought low, and the heights of men shall bow down, and the LORD alone shall be lifted high in that day.Many plans are in the heart of a man, but the counsel of the LORD, it will stand.He who is set against and lifts himself up over all that is called God, or what is bowed to, so that he sits down in the temple of God as God, displaying himself that he is God.THE THREAD
It grew great even up to the prince of the army, and from him the continual was lifted, and the footing of his set-apart place was sent down.The same Hebrew root, גדל (g-d-l), appears in “magnified himself” in both verses. Its return makes self-magnification a recurring image in Daniel, and the sanctuary’s casting down shows how that self-enlargement reaches into the world around it.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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