What Does Daniel 4:15 Mean in the King James?
Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth:
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 tree loses its height, but its root-life is deliberately preserved under restraint and among the beasts.
THE MEANING
The image holds reduction and preservation together: the stump and its roots remain in the earth. Yet what remains is bound in iron and brass, wet with heaven’s dew, and given a portion among beasts; survival here does not mean freedom or restored stature.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that what is cut down is wholly erased: the stump is expressly left, even while bound and assigned a beast’s portion.
THE ROOT
שָׁרְשׁוֹהִי
sharshohi
GROWS FROM
שרש
š-r-š
Root; the hidden base from which a plant grows, or the act of taking root.
The Aramaic word for “his roots” shares its three consonants with Hebrew שֹׁרֶשׁ (shoresh), “root.” English can make a stump sound like mere leftover wood, while the root-language keeps attention on the source that remains in the soil.
ALSO GROWS
shoresh: Root; the underground base from which a plant grows.
שֹׁרֶשׁ
It makes the retained part a source beneath the cut tree, not simply a remnant of its former height.
sharash: To take root or become rooted.
שָׁרַשׁ
The same consonants name the act of rooting; the verse preserves rootedness even as the tree’s visible stature is removed.
אֱסוּר
esur
GROWS FROM
אסר
ʾ-s-r
Bind, tie, restrain.
The band is a restraint, not decoration: the same root gives the word for a captive. The image holds preservation and captivity together; what remains has not yet been restored to freedom.
ALSO GROWS
asar: To bind or tie.
אָסַר
This is the action contained in the iron and brass band around what remains.
asir: One who is bound; a captive or prisoner.
אָסִיר
The related word makes the stump’s continued existence inseparable from its constrained condition.
THE PATTERN
What appears cut down can retain a hidden root from which life rises again.
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.THE THREAD
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:Daniel’s Aramaic שָׁרְשׁוֹהִי (sharshohi, “his roots”) and Isaiah’s שָׁרָשָׁיו (shorashav, “his roots”) share the root שרש (š-r-š). Isaiah makes visible the possibility held inside Daniel’s image: a branch can come forth from roots that remain.
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