What Does Daniel 2:23 Mean in the King James?
I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter.
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 revelation moves from “me” to “us”: knowing begins as a gift and becomes shared.
THE MEANING
You receive understanding that exceeds what you can produce alone: wisdom and might are given, and the hidden matter becomes known. The verse moves from “me” to “us,” showing what is disclosed through one person becoming shared with those who sought it. Gratitude names the source without claiming the insight as self-made.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that insight proves independence: wisdom, might, and the answer are received gifts.
THE ROOT
הוֹדַעְתַּנִי
hôdaʿtannî
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
Know, perceive, recognize.
“made known to me” in this verse is hôdaʿtannî. This Aramaic verb is causative: God brings the knowing about in the speaker. The same root carries the sense of knowing by encounter, so what was hidden becomes recognized and then moves from “me” to “us.”
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: To know or perceive.
יָדַע
This Hebrew cognate shares the seed of knowing that the verse presents as received and made clear.
maddaʿ: Knowledge or understanding.
מַדָּע
This noun from the same root shows knowing taking shape as something that can be carried and shared.
חָכְמְתָא
ḥokmətā
GROWS FROM
חכם
ḥ-k-m
Be wise or skillful.
The root also speaks of skill, so wisdom here is more than abstract information: it is discernment able to work with what is disclosed. It stands beside might, yet both are named as given rather than self-produced.
ALSO GROWS
ḥākām: A wise or skilled person.
חָכָם
The person is named by the capacity the verse says is given.
ḥokmāh: Wisdom or skill.
חָכְמָה
The Hebrew cognate keeps wisdom connected to practiced discernment, not information alone.
גְּבוּרְתָא
gebûrətā
GROWS FROM
גבר
g-b-r
Be strong, prevail, or prove able.
Might shares its root with the one who prevails, naming capacity to act rather than force in the abstract. Paired with wisdom, it too is received before the hidden matter is opened.
ALSO GROWS
gibbôr: A mighty or valiant one.
גִּבּוֹר
This branch gives the root a personal form: strength embodied in one able to act.
gābar: To prevail or grow strong.
גָּבַר
The verb reveals might as the capacity to stand and prevail, which the verse names as given.
THE PATTERN
Understanding is received when sought, then becomes available to be shared.
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.THE THREAD
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;The same Aramaic knowing root returns in “maketh known”: what was hidden becomes recognized because it is disclosed. Here the verse names that knowing as a gift to the asker; the connected verse names the source and reach of the disclosure.
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