What Does Daniel 4:22 Mean in the King James?
It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end 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 verse lets your greatness reach heaven while it measures your dominion across the earth.
THE MEANING
The verse addresses you as one whose greatness has grown until it reaches heaven and whose dominion reaches the earth’s edge. It holds height and breadth together: greatness rises, while rule is described across the earth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A greatness that reaches heaven means you possess heaven’s authority.
THE ROOT
שָׁלְטָנָךְ
šolṭānāḵ
GROWS FROM
שלט
To rule or exercise authority.
The verse’s Aramaic root שׁלט links the one who rules with the dominion exercised: both grow from the same three consonants. English can make “dominion” sound like a possession; the root reveals the reach of ruling power, here measured to the earth’s edge.
ALSO GROWS
šālîṭ: Ruler; one exercising authority.
שָׁלִיט
This related form makes the ruling person visible within the same consonantal family as the dominion in the verse.
šolṭān: Dominion; authority.
שָׁלְטָן
This form carries the same root consonants and shows that the word’s authority is a sphere of rule.
תְּקֵפְתְּ
təqēpt
GROWS FROM
תקף
To exert force, be strong, or prevail.
The root gathers strength and prevailing force, so “become strong” carries more than a static description. Beside שׁלט, it binds force to the authority that spreads across the earth.
ALSO GROWS
təqîp: Strong; mighty.
תְּקִיף
This Aramaic form shares the root consonants and describes the force named by “become strong.”
tōqef: Strength; force.
תֹּקֶף
This noun carries the same consonants, showing the quality of strength as the force behind the king’s expanding reach.
THE PATTERN
Human rule can span the earth while remaining under a sovereignty greater than its own.
That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.THE THREAD
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.The word translated “ruler” here comes from the same Aramaic root שלט (š-l-ṭ) as “dominion” in your verse. Daniel 2:38 makes the shared root visible: the one who rules and the reach of that rule belong to one word-family.
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