What Does Daniel 5:20 Mean?
But when his heart was lifted high, and his breath was hardened in swelling, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and they took his weight from him.
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
But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:THE KEY
The king’s inner breath itself grows strong in pride, as the heart’s ascent already turns toward a fall.
THE MEANING
When your inner breath strengthens toward pride, your heart rises above others while your status remains removable. A throne and its honor can disappear, exposing the limits of the pride that claimed them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The specific lie is that a high position makes a person untouchable. The verse shows that rank and public honor can be taken away.
THE ROOT
רוּחֵהּ
rûḥēh his breath
GROWS FROM
רוּחַ
r-w-ḥ
Breath or wind; the moving air and, by extension, a person’s inner disposition.
The Aramaic word rendered “mind” also means breath and wind, keeping thought, disposition, and animating breath connected. The verse locates pride in the force of the person’s inner being, which becomes hardened toward arrogance.
ALSO GROWS
rûaḥ: Wind
רוּחַ
This is the same word as the king’s inner disposition, keeping his inward state connected to moving air.
rûaḥ: Breath
רוּחַ
The word rendered “mind” also carries the sense of breath, linking the king’s inward posture to his animating force.
רִם
rīm
GROWS FROM
רוּם
r-w-m
Rise, be high, or raise up.
“lifted high” in this verse is rīm. The heart takes on height, and the passage answers that ascent with removal from the throne. The vertical movement reveals the reversal hidden in the sequence: what rises in pride can be brought low.
ALSO GROWS
rûm: Rise or be high
רוּם
This is the root’s basic movement, echoed in the heart being lifted up.
rām: High or exalted
רָם
This related form shows elevation as a state the heart assumes before the throne is lost.
תִּקְפַת
tiqpat
GROWS FROM
תְּקַף
t-q-p
Become strong, forceful, or prevailing.
“hardened” in this verse is tiqpat. The Aramaic carries the sense of becoming strong, while the surrounding words direct that force toward pride. Inner strength here does not protect the king’s position; it hardens into presumption as his throne and honor are taken.
ALSO GROWS
taqqîp: Strong or mighty
תַּקִּיף
This related form makes the force in “hardened” visible as strength.
teqōp: Strength or power
תְּקוֹף
The same root can name power itself, sharpening the passage’s contrast between inner force and lost royal power.
THE PATTERN
Pride’s apparent elevation does not secure a person from being brought low.
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.Swelling goes before breaking, and a breath lifted high goes before a stumbling.For everyone who lifts himself will be brought low; and the one who lowers himself will be lifted up.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.Daniel 4:37 names the reversal already visible here: the one who walks in pride can be brought low. It opens this verse by showing the loss of throne and honor as part of a wider pattern in which pride’s apparent height remains vulnerable.
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