What Does Daniel 11:2 Mean in the King James?
And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
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 king’s wealth does not merely make him stronger; it awakens an entire realm into opposition.
THE MEANING
The disclosure comes to the reader now as a stark sequence: riches gather around a ruler, strength channels them, and the resulting force rouses an entire realm against another. Wealth acts here as a trigger for collective movement, not simply as private abundance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that riches only secure the person who holds them: here they become the means that awaken broad opposition.
THE ROOT
יָעִיר
yaʿir
GROWS FROM
עור
to wake, awaken, or rouse
“stir up” in this verse is yaʿir. The Hebrew verb comes from עור, “to wake, rouse”: the king does not merely oppose Greece; his wealth awakens a whole field of action. The same root can describe someone being raised into action, exposing awakening as a force whose direction depends on what rouses it.
ALSO GROWS
ʿur: Wake up; become alert.
עוּר
The imperative shares the seed of the king’s action: what is asleep or still becomes active.
heʿir: Awakened or stirred into action.
הֵעִיר
This form appears in Isaiah 41:2, where the verse asks who raised someone from the east.
עֹשֶׁר
ʿosher
GROWS FROM
עשר
to be rich or become wealthy
Daniel repeats this root family: the king “will grow rich” (יַעֲשִׁיר, yaʿashir) and acts “through his riches” (עָשְׁרוֹ, ʿoshro). That repetition links accumulation directly to the force that rouses others, making wealth the engine of movement rather than background detail.
ALSO GROWS
ʿashir: A wealthy person; rich.
עָשִׁיר
The king is described through this same word family, tying his position to accumulated wealth.
yaʿashir: He will become wealthy.
יַעֲשִׁיר
This is the form used just before עֹשֶׁר in the verse, repeating the root as the king’s riches are introduced.
THE PATTERN
Awakening turns latent force into action, and the direction of that action shapes what follows.
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.THE THREAD
Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.Isaiah’s “raised up” and Daniel’s “stir up” come from the same Hebrew root, עור, “to awaken, rouse.” Daniel shows wealth rousing a realm against another; Isaiah asks who rouses a figure and places nations before him, revealing the shared mechanism beneath both scenes.
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