What Does Daniel 2:16 Mean?
Then Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, and to show the king the interpretation.
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 Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.THE KEY
Daniel asks for the interval before he has the interpretation, making time itself part of how the answer comes into view.
THE MEANING
A difficult question can stand before you without an immediate answer. This verse gives the interval a place: time is asked for while the meaning is still to be shown. The gap between not seeing and understanding is part of the moment, not proof that no answer exists.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that needing time means there is no answer: Daniel asks for an interval while still offering to show the interpretation.
THE ROOT
זְמָן
zeman
GROWS FROM
ז־מ־ן
z-m-n
A set or appointed time; a season.
English “time” can sound like blank duration, but זְמָן (zeman, a set time or season) carries the sense of an interval with its own place. Daniel asks for that interval so the interpretation can be shown; the same word names life’s seasons and appointed occasions.
ALSO GROWS
zeman: A season or time for a purpose.
זְמַן
Ecclesiastes uses this same word for the time appointed to each matter, showing that Daniel’s request is for room within a season, not merely a delay.
bizmaneyhem: At their appointed times.
בִּזְמַנֵּיהֶם
Esther uses this form for the appointed times of Purim, another branch of the root that treats time as a fitting occasion.
THE PATTERN
Understanding is not demanded on the spot; it is asked for, given, and met within its proper time.
To everything there is an appointed time, and a time for every delight under the heavens.And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding.But if any of you is left behind in wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all without doubling and without taunting, and it will be given him.THE THREAD
To everything there is an appointed time, and a time for every delight under the heavens.The Aramaic word זְמָן (zeman, a set time or season) in Daniel is the same word used for “time” in Ecclesiastes. That shared root opens Daniel’s request as an appeal for the fitting season in which the interpretation can be shown.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us