What Does Daniel 11:6 Mean in the King James?
And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times.
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
An alliance can join two kingdoms and still fail to hold the people sent to secure it.
THE MEANING
A union joins two powers, yet the woman sent to carry its terms cannot retain her strength; neither can the king or his arm. She, those who bring her, the one who begot her, and the one strengthening her are handed over in their appointed time. The cost of the failed pact remains personal and explicit.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A formal pact guarantees that everyone sent to secure it will be safe.
THE ROOT
יִתְחַבָּרוּ
yitḥabberū
GROWS FROM
חבר
ḥ-b-r
To join, bind, or associate.
“join themselves together” in this verse is yitḥabberū. The union is built from the language of joining or associating: a bond between parties. The root names connection, not permanence; the verse turns from union to the people involved being handed over.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāver: Companion or associate.
חָבֵר
The alliance creates an association, but association alone does not ensure lasting protection.
ḥeber: Company or band.
חֶבֶר
This branch evokes people bound together as a group, even as the verse shows that the bond does not preserve everyone within it.
מֵישָׁרִים
mêshārîm
GROWS FROM
ישר
y-š-r
To be straight, level, or right.
The Hebrew term behind the agreement carries the sense of straightness or equitable terms. The verse shows the distance between an arrangement meant to set matters straight and one able to preserve the people caught in it.
ALSO GROWS
yāšār: Straight or upright.
יָשָׁר
The word’s root gives the negotiated terms an undertone of rightness or order, without promising that the terms will hold.
mîšôr: Level ground or a plain.
מִישׁוֹר
This branch carries the sense of a level or even surface; the agreement aims at an orderly footing, while the people in the passage remain exposed.
וּמְחַזִּקָהּ
ūməḥazzîqāh
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
To be strong or firm; to make strong or hold fast.
“strengthened” in this verse is ūməḥazzîqāh. The verb names someone actively making her strong; the same root can describe strength and holding fast. Yet this supporter, too, is handed over, so support is not a guarantee of security.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzāq: Strong or firm.
חָזָק
This shared root connects the supporter’s role to strength itself, which the verse shows cannot secure the people involved.
heḥĕzîq: To take hold, hold fast, or strengthen.
הֶחֱזִיק
The branch makes the act of support concrete: someone holds her up, yet that support does not prevent her surrender.
THE PATTERN
A political bond may promise strength while leaving the people and purposes it gathers exposed.
That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.THE THREAD
And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.The Hebrew word behind “league” comes from the same ḥ-b-r root as “join themselves together” here. The next words turn from alliance to deceit, opening the possibility that a bond can become the setting for betrayal rather than protection.
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