What Does Daniel 2:17 Mean in the King James?

Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:

Daniel 2:17 · 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.

THE KEY

Daniel turns the threat from a private burden into shared knowing before anyone knows how it ends.

THE MEANING

The threat enters shared awareness before its answer appears; it is no longer carried by one person alone. The names deepen the scene: Hananiah (⁨חֲנַנְיָה⁩, Ḥănanyāh, “Yah has shown favor”), Mishael (⁨מִישָׁאֵל⁩, Mîšāʾēl, “Who is what God is?”), and Azariah (⁨עֲזַרְיָה⁩, ʿĂzaryāh, “Yah has helped”) carry favor, God, and help into the room while the danger remains real.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that no one can be told until there is a solution dissolves here: the danger is shared while it is still unresolved.

THE ROOT

הוֹדַע

hôḏaʿ

GROWS FROM

ידע

y-d-ʿ

Know, perceive, recognize.

“made known” in this verse is hôḏaʿ. The Aramaic ⁨הוֹדַע⁩ (hôḏaʿ, “make known”) is a causative form of ⁨ידע⁩ (y-d-ʿ, “know, perceive”). Daniel brings his companions into knowing the matter, making the crisis shared before an answer exists.

ALSO GROWS

yedaʿ: Know, perceive.

יְדַע

The verse’s causative form grows from this verb: Daniel brings others into knowing.

maddāʿ: Knowledge, understanding.

מַדָּע

This related noun names knowledge itself; here, what one person knows becomes shared understanding.

חַבְרוֹהִי

ḥabrōhî

GROWS FROM

חבר

ḥ-b-r

Join, associate, bind together.

The companions are named through a root of joining and association. Their presence makes the disclosure more than passing along information: the matter enters a bond between people.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāḇēr: Companion, associate.

חָבֵר

This Hebrew word from the same root names someone joined to another, illuminating the bond in the Aramaic word for companions.

ḥăḇurāh: Company, association.

חֲבֻרָה

The root can name a gathered association, giving companionship the sense of people joined together.

עֲזַרְיָה

ʿĂzaryāh

GROWS FROM

עזר

ʿ-z-r

Help, aid, support.

Azariah’s name carries “Yah has helped” through ⁨עזר⁩ (ʿ-z-r, “help, aid”). Help is present in the names around Daniel before the danger is resolved.

ALSO GROWS

ʿāzar: Help, support.

עָזַר

This verb names the help carried in Azariah’s name.

ʿēzer: Help, aid.

עֵזֶר

This noun makes the name’s language of help concrete beside the companions Daniel brings into the crisis.

THE PATTERN

When danger is named among companions, it becomes a shared matter for mutual support and appeal.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 · KJVThe verse gives companionship a practical force: shared effort yields what one person cannot carry alone.

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

James 5:16 · KJVWhat is brought into the open between people becomes the ground for mutual prayer.

That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 2:18 · KJVThe shared knowledge becomes a shared appeal for mercy while the threat remains.

THE THREAD

The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.

Daniel 2:8 · KJV

The king’s “I know” and Daniel’s “made known” grow from the same Aramaic root, ⁨ידע⁩ (yedaʿ, “know, perceive”). One uses knowing to accuse; the other brings the threatened matter into shared knowing.

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