What Does Daniel 11:17 Mean in the King James?

He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her: but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him.

Daniel 11:17 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The arrangement is meant to ruin the woman it gives, and being placed in the ruler’s plan does not make her his.

THE MEANING

The verse lets you see coercion by its own name: a ruler places a woman inside his political design, and the stated aim is to ruin her. Yet she does not stand with him or become his; power can stage an alliance without securing belonging.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Being given into someone’s plan means that person belongs to the planner.

THE ROOT

לְהַשְׁחִיתָהּ

lehashchitah

GROWS FROM

שחת

shachat

To ruin, destroy, or corrupt.

“corrupting her / to ruin her” in this verse is lehashchitah. The Hebrew verb joins corruption to active ruin: the arrangement targets a person for harm. The same root describes a corrupted world and names a destroyer, keeping the violence inside the language of alliance visible.

ALSO GROWS

nishchatah: Was corrupt or ruined.

נִשְׁחָתָה

Genesis 6:11 uses this form for the earth, showing the root’s range from corruption to ruin.

hamashchit: The destroyer.

הַמַּשְׁחִית

Exodus 12:23 uses this root for a destructive agent, making its active force clear.

יְשָׁרִים

yesharim

GROWS FROM

ישר

yashar

Straight, right, or upright.

“upright ones” in this verse is yesharim. The word names people as upright, from the same root that describes straightness and rightness. Their presence beside a plan explicitly aimed at ruining her leaves a tension in the verse: standing near power does not by itself make its actions upright.

ALSO GROWS

yashar: Straight, right, or upright.

יָשָׁר

The root’s concrete sense of straightness gives the description “upright ones” its moral weight.

mesharim: Uprightness or equity.

מֵישָׁרִים

This related form names the quality of rightness, sharpening the contrast with the destructive purpose of the arrangement.

THE PATTERN

Human power can arrange an alliance, but it cannot command another person’s allegiance or secure its intended outcome.

And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.

Genesis 24:58 · KJVThe proposed union becomes hers through her own answer, showing that an arrangement does not replace a person’s consent.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

Psalm 146:3 · KJVThe verse names the limits of political power as a source of security.

And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:

Acts 5:38 · KJVA human plan cannot guarantee the outcome its makers intend.

THE THREAD

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

Genesis 6:11 · KJV

The Hebrew word rendered “corrupting” in Daniel shares the ⁨שחת⁩ (shachat, ruin or corrupt) root with the word rendered “corrupt” here. That root carries active destruction too, keeping the violence inside Daniel’s arrangement visible beneath its language of alliance.

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