What Does Daniel 7:6 Mean?
After this I saw, and look, another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a bird. The living one also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
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
After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.THE KEY
The beast’s dominion is given to it, so even this terrifying power is received rather than self-originating.
THE MEANING
The vision sets a leopard with four bird wings and four heads before you: a predatory, swift, many-headed image. Its dominion is real, yet the verse says it is given to the beast; its force does not make its rule ultimate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a power must be ultimate because it looks swift, many-headed, and unstoppable.
THE ROOT
שָׁלְטָן
sholtan
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ל־ט
sh-l-ṭ
To rule, hold sway, or exercise power.
The Aramaic word belongs to a family of ruling and authority, while the sentence says this dominion is given to the beast. The vision holds force and dependence together: the beast rules, but its rule is received.
ALSO GROWS
shalaṭ: To rule or exercise power.
שְׁלַט
The verbal branch makes dominion an act of ruling, not merely a possession.
shalliṭ: A ruler, or one who has authority.
שַׁלִּיט
This branch names the one who holds power, linking the beast’s dominion to the authority it exercises.
יְהִיב
yehiv
GROWS FROM
יהב
y-h-b
To give or grant.
“given” in this verse is yehiv. The word for giving makes the source of the beast’s authority part of the vision: its dominion comes to it. Power is present, but the verse shows it as granted.
ALSO GROWS
yahēv: Gives.
יָהֵב
This active form names the act of granting, bringing the giver behind the beast’s power into view.
yehiv: Given or granted.
יְהִיב
This form places the beast on the receiving end of dominion.
THE PATTERN
Authority can be immense and still be received rather than self-originating.
And God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."And dominion was given to him, and weight, and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations, and tongues should serve him. His dominion is a dominion of ages, which shall not be moved away, and his kingdom which shall not be destroyed.Jesus answered, You would have no authority at all against me, unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you has a greater shortcoming.THE THREAD
And dominion was given to him, and weight, and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations, and tongues should serve him. His dominion is a dominion of ages, which shall not be moved away, and his kingdom which shall not be destroyed.The same Aramaic word for dominion, שָׁלְטָן (sholtan), and the same verb for giving appear again. Read together, the verses place the beast’s real authority within a larger transfer of rule that ends in dominion that does not pass away.
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