What Does Daniel 7:24 Mean?
And the ten horns from it are ten kings who shall rise, and another shall rise behind them, and he shall be changed from the first, and he shall bring low three kings.
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 the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.THE KEY
The new ruler’s distinction is a downward force: he rises by bringing three kings low.
THE MEANING
Power here takes shape through rulers and the lowering of rulers. One figure becomes distinct from those before him by subduing three kings. His rise is measured by what he pushes beneath him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A rise in power means the order is improving for everyone; here, one ruler rises as three kings are subdued.
THE ROOT
יְהַשְׁפִּל
yehashpil
GROWS FROM
שפל
š-p-l
To be low or to bring low.
“bring low” in this verse is yehashpil. The Aramaic verb behind “subdue” carries the sense of making the three kings low. The verse’s shift in power is vertical: the new ruler stands out by lowering others.
ALSO GROWS
lehashpalah: To bring low; to abase.
לְהַשְׁפָּלָה
Daniel 4:37 uses this same Aramaic root for the act translated “abase,” linking the ruler’s power here to bringing others down.
shephelah: Lowland; low country.
שְׁפֵלָה
This Hebrew branch carries the root into terrain: low is a position beneath something else, as the three kings are beneath this ruler.
יִשְׁנֵא
yishne
GROWS FROM
שנא
š-n-ʾ
To change or be altered.
“changed” in this verse is yishne. The Aramaic verb points to change from the rulers before him. The verse then shows what that break in the order looks like: three kings are brought low.
ALSO GROWS
shenā: To change; to be altered.
שְׁנָא
This is the base sense behind “diverse,” making his difference a change from the former rulers.
ishtannî: Was changed.
אֶשְׁתַּנִּי
Daniel 3:19 uses this same Aramaic root for a changed expression, showing the root’s sense of an actual shift in state.
THE PATTERN
Power shifts vertically: one is raised as another is brought down.
For God is the judge. This one he brings low, and this one he lifts.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.Daniel 4:37 uses the same Aramaic root, translated “abase,” for bringing the proud low. That shared root makes the subduing in this verse a concrete lowering.
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