What Does Daniel 5:10 Mean?
Now the queen, because of the words of the king and his great ones, came into the drinking hall, and the queen answered and said, O king, live to the ages. Let not your thoughts startle you, nor let the brightness of your face be changed.
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
Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed:THE KEY
The verse catches panic as it moves from thought into the face, then speaks to both at once.
THE MEANING
The verse names a movement you recognize: thoughts can become so alarming that your face changes with them. A steady voice meets the turmoil as it happens, addressing both the inward alarm and its outward sign.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that once distress shows on your face, nothing can reach you until you hide it.
THE ROOT
יְבַהֲלוּךְ
yebahălûkh
GROWS FROM
ב־ה־ל
b-h-l
To alarm or startle; in Aramaic, also to hurry or act swiftly.
“startle” in this verse is yebahălûkh. The Aramaic verb behind “trouble” carries the sense of sudden alarm and haste. The thoughts are already rushing before their force appears on the face.
ALSO GROWS
behitbehālāh: In haste, hurriedly.
בְּהִתְבְּהָלָה
Daniel 2:25 uses this Aramaic form for bringing Daniel quickly to the king, revealing the root’s rushing quality.
behalāh: Sudden terror or alarm.
בֶּהָלָה
This Hebrew branch shows how the same root names the jolt of fear that can overtake a person.
יִשְׁתַּנֵּא
yishtanne
GROWS FROM
ש־נ־א
sh-n-ʾ
To change, alter, or become different.
“changed” in this verse is yishtanne. The Aramaic root names a shift into a different state; here that shift reaches the countenance. The queen’s words hold open a space between alarm in the thoughts and the change that might appear on the face.
ALSO GROWS
ishtannî: Was changed.
אִשְׁתַּנִּי
Daniel 3:19 uses the same root for the change in Nebuchadnezzar’s visage, again making an inner state visible.
shannîn: Different, diverse.
שָׁנִּין
In Daniel 7:7 this branch describes something unlike the others, showing how change carries the sense of becoming different.
THE PATTERN
Inner disturbance becomes visible in the face or heart, where a spoken word can meet it.
And the LORD said to Cain, Why do you burn? And why has your face fallen?A glad heart makes the face good, but by the pain of the heart the breath is crushed.Let not your heart be stirred. You lean your full weight on God; lean your full weight on me also.THE THREAD
Then the brightness of the king's face was changed, and his thoughts startled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees knocked against one another.The same Aramaic roots for alarming thoughts and a changed countenance appear in 5:6. Here the queen names those two movements in reverse order and speaks directly to the pattern already unfolding.
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