What Does Daniel 7:16 Mean?
I drew near to one of those standing by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he spoke to me, and made me perceive the untying of the words.
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
I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.THE KEY
Meaning opens through nearness: what you do not understand becomes knowable when you draw close enough to ask.
THE MEANING
You can stand before what you do not yet understand and ask what it means. Understanding comes through the answer you receive; the mystery remains present, but it is no longer sealed from you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that needing an explanation means you are too far from the truth to ask.
THE ROOT
קְרֵבֶת
qerebet
GROWS FROM
קרב
To approach, draw near.
“drew near” in this verse is qerebet. The verse begins with approach, before the request and its answer. The same root appears in qereb, the inner part or midst, and korban, drawing near; nearness becomes a way into the midst of what is being asked.
ALSO GROWS
qereb: The inner part, midst, or interior.
Its shared root links drawing near with entering into the midst of what is present.
qorban: Drawing near; an approach.
It carries the verse’s movement of coming close before understanding opens.
יְהוֹדְעִנַּנִי
yehodeʿinnani
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know, perceive, recognize.
“made me perceive” in this verse is yehodeʿinnani. The Aramaic form is causative: the attendant causes Daniel to know the interpretation. This root can hold knowing through encounter, so understanding arrives here through a relation rather than being manufactured from the vision alone.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: To know, perceive, or recognize.
This is the root’s basic action, echoed in the verse’s made me know.
daʿat: Knowledge or understanding.
It shows knowledge as the state that grows from the act of knowing.
THE PATTERN
What is opaque becomes understandable through approach, asking, and an answer that opens its meaning.
But as for me, this hidden thing has not been uncovered to me for any wisdom I have more than any of the living, but for the sake of those who will make known the interpretation to the king, and so that you might perceive the thoughts of your heart.The opening of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the open ones.Then he threw open their minds, so that they might put the writings together.THE THREAD
But as for me, this hidden thing has not been uncovered to me for any wisdom I have more than any of the living, but for the sake of those who will make known the interpretation to the king, and so that you might perceive the thoughts of your heart.The Aramaic verb for make known in both verses grows from ידע (y-d-ʿ, to know), and both pair knowing with פְּשַׁר (peshar, interpretation). Together they show that an interpretation can be received and made known; it does not have to be forced out of the mystery by solitary effort.
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