What Does Daniel 8:25 Mean?
And through his insight, deceit will make its way in his hand, and in his heart he will grow great, and in ease he will ruin many. Against the prince of princes he will stand, but without hand he will be broken.
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 through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.THE KEY
The word rendered “peace” is shalvah, ease or security, and here it is precisely through that calm that many are destroyed.
THE MEANING
This verse shows deception succeeding through a person’s own hand, enlarging the heart’s image of itself, and turning ease into the setting for many people’s destruction. Even the one who rises against the Prince of princes is broken without a human hand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse breaks the belief that calm success proves a power is harmless: it names ease itself as the channel through which many are destroyed.
THE ROOT
בְּשַׁלְוָה
bəshalvah
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ל־ו
sh-l-w
To be at ease, undisturbed, or secure.
Here “peace” is שַׁלְוָה (shalvah, ease or security), a different Hebrew word from שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness). The verse reveals that ease can itself become the means of ruin: what feels settled may give destructive power its path.
ALSO GROWS
shalew: A person or state that is tranquil or untroubled.
שָׁלֵו
It shows the quiet condition carried by shalvah, the very condition through which destruction advances here.
shalvatam: The ease or prosperity belonging to a group.
שַׁלְוָתָם
Proverbs uses this same word family when it says the ease of fools destroys them, making Daniel’s paradox explicit.
מִרְמָה
mirmah
GROWS FROM
רמה
r-m-h
To deceive, betray, or deal treacherously.
The thing that prospers is מִרְמָה (mirmah, deceit or treachery). “Policy” and “craft” can sound like neutral cleverness in English, while the Hebrew makes betrayal part of the operation itself.
ALSO GROWS
ramah: A verb describing deception or betrayal.
רָמָה
It shows that mirmah is not merely a plan but the act of deceiving that makes the plan succeed.
remiyyah: Deceitful conduct or betrayal.
רְמִיָּה
This related noun reinforces that the prospering craft is rooted in treachery.
יִשָּׁבֵר
yishaver
GROWS FROM
שבר
sh-b-r
To break or shatter.
After power works “in his hand,” he is broken “without hand.” The passive wording leaves the instrument unstated, while the contrast shows that human force is not needed for his end.
ALSO GROWS
shavar: The verb for breaking or smashing something.
שָׁבַר
It makes the final outcome a real breaking, not merely a loss of status.
shever: A break or shattered condition.
שֶׁבֶר
This noun form makes visible the state reached by the one who had magnified himself.
THE PATTERN
Ease and assurances of peace can become the very cover through which ruin arrives.
For the turning away of the open ones slays them, and the ease of fools makes them perish.When they say, "Wholeness and firm footing," then sudden ruin stands over them, like labor pains upon a woman carrying a child in her womb, and they will not escape.The words of his mouth are smoother than butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are opened swords.THE THREAD
For the turning away of the open ones slays them, and the ease of fools makes them perish.Proverbs uses the same שׁ־ל־ו root in “prosperity”: the ease of the foolish itself destroys them. That shared word makes Daniel’s paradox unmistakable, security can become the means through which destruction proceeds.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us