What Does Daniel 3:18 Mean in the King James?
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
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
Their refusal survives even the possibility of death: allegiance is not a bargain for deliverance.
THE MEANING
When the outcome is uncertain, you can still see the line this verse draws around what is served and what is bowed to. Its “if not” keeps the possibility of no rescue in view; the refusal does not depend on being spared. Both allegiance and bodily submission are at stake.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that when rescue is uncertain, compliance is the only possible choice.
THE ROOT
פָּלְחִין
pālḥîn
GROWS FROM
פלח
p-l-ḥ
to serve or render service
The Aramaic verb names allegiance given to a deity or ruler. Beside the separate refusal to bow, it shows that the men reject both whom they will serve and the demand made of their bodies.
ALSO GROWS
pĕlaḥ: serve; the form used of Daniel serving God continually
פְּלַח
The same root names sustained service in Daniel’s story, making the refusal here about allegiance rather than a single gesture.
pālḥîn: serving; the plural form used when the men say whom they serve
פָּלְחִין
The plural form keeps their service collective, matching the shared refusal in this verse.
נִסְגֻּד
nisgud
GROWS FROM
סגד
s-g-d
to bow down or prostrate oneself
The Aramaic verb carries the physical sense of bowing down, so the word rendered “worship” reaches the body as well as conviction. The men refuse the image’s posture as distinctly as they refuse service to the king’s gods.
ALSO GROWS
tisgĕdûn: you shall bow down or prostrate yourselves
תִּסְגְּדוּן
This form appears in the command to worship the image, making clear that the demand is for a bodily act.
sāgĕdîn: bowing down or worshipping
סָגְדִין
This form describes the people bowing to the image, revealing the posture that the men refuse here.
THE PATTERN
Human threats can demand an outward act, yet the demand does not own allegiance.
But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.THE THREAD
Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.The same Aramaic root פלח names Daniel’s service to God in the lions’ den. Here it names the three men’s refusal to transfer that service; across both scenes, the word keeps the question fixed on whom they serve while the threat changes.
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