What Does Daniel 1:1 Mean in the King James?
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verb “besieged” carries the sense of binding and constriction, placing Jerusalem’s wholeness inside a narrowing.
THE MEANING
Outside pressure narrows the city’s room to move. Jerusalem’s name carries the sense of wholeness, and the verse holds that wholeness alongside the siege that closes around it.
THE ROOT
וַיָּצַר
wayyatsar
GROWS FROM
צָרַר
To bind, press in, or besiege; to constrict.
“besieged” in this verse is wayyatsar. The Hebrew verb carries more than a military action: it pictures a place being bound and pressed into narrowness. Related words keep that image alive in “narrowness” and “distress,” making the siege a form of constriction.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow, tight; also an adversary.
צַר
The adversary and the narrowing share the same image of pressure closing in.
tsarah: Distress, trouble, or straits.
צָרָה
Distress is the inward experience of being bound or pressed into a narrow place.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שָׁלֵם
Whole, complete.
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. The name carries shalom, wholeness, into a sentence about a city under siege. The verse places wholeness and constriction together: the city is surrounded, yet the siege does not become its name.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, completeness, well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
The name’s wholeness stands in striking tension with the constriction surrounding the city.
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch keeps the sense of intactness beside the image of a place being pressed in.
THE PATTERN
Scripture pictures constriction as being enclosed or pressed in, while spaciousness opens room beyond it.
I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;THE THREAD
I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.וַיָּצַר (wayyatsar, “he besieged”) and מִן־הַמֵּצַר (min hameitzar, “from the narrow place”) share the root צָרַר (tsarar, “bind, press in, besiege”). The psalm opens the movement the siege closes: from constriction into רְחָבָה (reḥavah, “a broad place”).
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