What Does Daniel 4:21 Mean in the King James?
Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation:
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’s abundance is measured by the lives its fruit feeds and its branches shelter.
THE MEANING
The verse pictures abundance extending beyond itself: its fruit feeds all, and its branches shelter other lives. It speaks now of flourishing as provision with room in it, where growth becomes food and a place to dwell for those within its reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that abundance is complete when it accumulates at the top; here the fruit is for all, and the branches become a home.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁכְּנוּן
yishkenun
GROWS FROM
שכן
To settle, dwell, or remain.
The Aramaic verb behind “had their habitation” belongs to the root שכן (sh-k-n, “dwell”), also carried by Hebrew words for dwelling and sanctuary. That same seed can name settling, a sanctuary, and indwelling presence, so the birds do not just pass through the branches; they make a home there.
ALSO GROWS
shākhan: To settle, dwell.
שָׁכַן
This verb names the act of becoming at home, which is what the birds do among the boughs.
mishkan: Dwelling place, sanctuary.
מִשְׁכָּן
The same consonants name a place made for dwelling, so the branches become habitat rather than mere perches.
shekhinah: Indwelling presence.
שְׁכִינָה
This word carries the root’s sense of presence as dwelling; the verse’s habitation is life settled into a place.
THE PATTERN
Abundance reaches its fullest form when it becomes both nourishment and shelter for other lives.
Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.THE THREAD
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.The Aramaic verb in Daniel and the Hebrew verb translated “dwell” here come from the same root. That shared seed links birds making a home among branches with the divine presence dwelling among people, widening habitation from shelter to abiding.
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