What Does Daniel 5:19 Mean?
And because of the greatness he gave him, all peoples, nations, and tongues trembled and feared before him. Whom he willed, he struck down; whom he willed, he kept alive; whom he willed, he lifted up; and whom he willed, he brought low.
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 for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.THE KEY
The same authority that lifts a person can bring them low, or take their life.
THE MEANING
Power concentrated in one will reaches both life and status: one person is killed, another kept alive, one raised up, another brought low. The verse holds the terror of that power in view: majesty granted to a ruler becomes the power to decide another person’s fate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being raised by power makes you secure: the same hand can lower you or take your life.
THE ROOT
מְרִים
mĕrîm
GROWS FROM
רוּם
r-w-m
The Aramaic root רוּם (rûm) means to be high or to raise.
“lifted up” in this verse is mĕrîm. “Set up” carries the image of lifting someone high. Beside “put down,” it reveals authority as the power to move people between opposite heights.
ALSO GROWS
rām: High, elevated.
רָם
This Hebrew cognate makes the height inside “set up” visible.
terûmāh: A lifted portion or contribution.
תְּרוּמָה
This Hebrew word from the same root preserves the sense of something raised or set apart from the rest.
מַשְׁפִּיל
mašpîl
GROWS FROM
שפל
š-p-l
The Aramaic root שפל (šĕphal) means to be low or to bring low.
“brought low” in this verse is mašpîl. “Put down” is a lowering: the ruler’s will moves someone from a higher position to a lower one. The same root appears in Daniel 4:37, where the King of heaven can abase the proud.
ALSO GROWS
šāphāl: Low, lowly.
שָׁפָל
This Hebrew cognate names the low position toward which the Aramaic verb brings someone.
hišpîl: To bring low, abase.
הִשְׁפִּיל
This Hebrew verb shares the root and makes the lowering action explicit.
THE PATTERN
The power to raise and lower rulers is received, and its reach is not ultimate.
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.The LORD strips, and makes rich; he lays low, and lifts high.He has pulled the mighty down from their seats, and lifted up the low.THE THREAD
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and lift high and honor the King of heaven, whose deeds are all truth, and whose paths are judgment; and those who walk with lifted heads he is able to bring low.“Put down” in Daniel 5:19 and “abase” here share the Aramaic root שפל (š-p-l), meaning to be low or bring low. The root links the ruler’s power to lower others with the King of heaven’s power to abase the proud.
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