What Does Daniel 6:3 Mean?
Then this Daniel stood apart above the princes and the governors, because an overflow of breath was in him, and the king planned to set him over the whole 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
Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.THE KEY
The king sees Daniel’s extraordinary ruach, breath, before he decides to give him authority.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you now: what is within you can become visible in how you carry responsibility. It places distinction before appointment: the king sees the extraordinary breath in Daniel and then intends to place him over the realm.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Your worth begins only when someone grants you rank.
THE ROOT
רוּחַ
rûaḥ
GROWS FROM
ר-ו-ח
r-w-ḥ
To blow; the word carries wind and breath, the animating current within a living person.
The Aramaic word in Daniel is the same word as Hebrew ruach: wind, breath, and spirit belong to one image. The verse describes Daniel’s distinction as an extraordinary inner breath, not merely as a quality attached to his position.
ALSO GROWS
rûaḥ: Wind, breath, spirit
רוּחַ
One word spans moving air and the breath within a person; the English word “spirit” can hide that concrete connection.
rāvaḥ: To find room or relief
רָוַח
This related form shares the consonants and echoes the movement from constriction into room; Daniel’s extraordinary breath accompanies the discernment and capacity that make room for responsibility.
יַתִּירָא
yattîrā’
GROWS FROM
י-ת-ר
y-t-r
To remain or be left over; by extension, to exceed or be more than enough.
“an overflow of” in this verse is yattîrā’. The word translated “excellent” comes from the sense of what exceeds or remains beyond the ordinary measure. The phrase is more pointed than a vague compliment: Daniel has a surpassing breath within him.
ALSO GROWS
yattîr: Surpassing, abundant
יַתִּיר
This Aramaic form carries the sense of exceeding measure, describing the quality of Daniel’s breath.
yoter: More, remaining
יוֹתֵר
This Hebrew branch preserves the idea of what is left over or beyond the expected, sharpening the force of “excellent.”
THE PATTERN
An extraordinary inner breath becomes visible as discernment and capacity, and others entrust responsibility in response.
And the Great House said to his servants, Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the breath of God?And I have filled him with the breath of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of work.Now, brothers, look out among you seven men of good witness, full of the Set-Apart Breath and wisdom, whom we may set over this need.THE THREAD
And the Great House said to his servants, Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the breath of God?Genesis uses Hebrew רוּחַ (rûaḥ, wind, breath, spirit), the same word as Daniel’s Aramaic רוּחַ (rûaḥ, wind, breath, spirit). In both verses, someone recognizes the breath within a person before public authority follows.
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