What Does Daniel 1:7 Mean in the King James?
Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego.
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 behind “gave names” means “set in place,” so the renaming lays a rival claim over names that still speak of Israel’s God.
THE MEANING
An imposed name can carry another power’s claim about who you are, but the verse keeps the God-marked names visible beside it. Identity is contested here: what is set over a person does not erase the nature already carried in a name.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A stronger power can rename me, so its account of who I am becomes the truest one.
THE ROOT
שֵׁמוֹת
shēmōt
GROWS FROM
שׂים
Put, set, place.
The verse’s verb translated “gave” and its noun “names” share the root of setting in place: renaming is pictured as setting an identity over someone. Daniel (דָּנִיֵּאל, Daniyyel, “God is my judge”), Hananiah (חֲנַנְיָה, Ḥănanyāh, “Yah has shown favor”), Mishael (מִישָׁאֵל, Mîšāʾēl, “Who is what God is?”), and Azariah (עֲזַרְיָה, ʿĂzaryāh, “Yah has helped”) remain visible beside replacements that include claims tied to Bel and Nebo.
ALSO GROWS
lāśûm: To put, set, or place.
לָשׂוּם
This verb carries the root’s basic sense into the act of assigning a name.
wayyāśem: And he set or placed.
וַיָּשֶׂם
This is the verb used in the verse, setting names in place over the four men.
דָּנִיֵּאל
Daniyyel
GROWS FROM
דין
Judge, judgment.
Daniel means “God is my judge.” That claim remains audible in the sentence even as another authority adds a new name.
ALSO GROWS
dīn: Judgment.
דִּין
The root carries the judgment named in Daniel’s identity.
dayyan: Judge.
דַּיָּן
This branch names the one who judges, making Daniel’s “God is my judge” claim concrete.
THE PATTERN
A name places a claim about a person’s nature, and a changed name reveals who seeks to define that nature.
Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.THE THREAD
Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.The same Hebrew word for “name” stands behind both verses. Here the name is explicitly bound to nature; Daniel 1:7 adds the image of setting another name in place beside it, making the contest over identity visible.
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