What Does Daniel 5:7 Mean?
The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king answered and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed in purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
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
The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.THE KEY
The message must first be voiced and then resolved: the Aramaic root behind “read” also means “call” or “proclaim,” while interpretation is a separate act.
THE MEANING
When an unreadable message presses on you, the desire is not only to see it but to make it answer. You can attach wealth and rank to an explanation, yet the offer itself cannot decide what the writing means.
THE ROOT
פְּשַׁר
pĕshar
GROWS FROM
פשר
pšr
to interpret or explain
The king asks for both the writing to be read and its peshar, its interpreted meaning. “Interpreter” and “interpretation” grow from the same Aramaic root, linking the person who reveals meaning to the act of resolving it.
ALSO GROWS
pĕshar: interpretation or explanation
פְּשַׁר
This is the meaning the king demands beyond simply reading the writing.
məphaššar: one who interprets
מְפַשַּׁר
The same root names the person who makes the writing’s meaning known.
קְרֵא
qere
GROWS FROM
קרא
qrʾ
to call, proclaim, or read aloud
“read” in this verse is qere. The Aramaic root carries reading and calling or proclaiming together. The marks must be voiced before their meaning can be explained.
ALSO GROWS
qere: read
קְרֵא
This is the king’s request to have the writing voiced.
qera: call or proclaim
קְרָא
This branch reveals the spoken dimension carried by the word for reading.
THE PATTERN
A hidden matter draws someone to seek its meaning, even when the visible sign is already before them.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none who can loose it. And I have heard of you, that you can hear a dream and loose it.The weight of God is to hide a matter; the weight of kings is to search out a matter.For there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be known.THE THREAD
Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king its interpretation.The king’s offer hinges on two linked acts: reading the writing and giving its peshar, its interpretation. The next verse makes clear that reading the marks and making their meaning known are distinct capacities.
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