What Does Daniel 5:19 Mean in the King James?

And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.

Daniel 5:19 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The same authority that lifts a person can bring them low, or take their life.

THE MEANING

Power concentrated in one will reaches both life and status: one person is killed, another kept alive, one raised up, another brought low. The verse holds the terror of that power in view: majesty granted to a ruler becomes the power to decide another person’s fate.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that being raised by power makes you secure: the same hand can lower you or take your life.

THE ROOT

מְרִים

mĕrîm

GROWS FROM

רוּם

r-w-m

The Aramaic root ⁨רוּם⁩ (rûm) means to be high or to raise.

“Set up” carries the image of lifting someone high. Beside “put down,” it reveals authority as the power to move people between opposite heights.

ALSO GROWS

rām: High, elevated.

רָם

This Hebrew cognate makes the height inside “set up” visible.

terûmāh: A lifted portion or contribution.

תְּרוּמָה

This Hebrew word from the same root preserves the sense of something raised or set apart from the rest.

מַשְׁפִּיל

mašpîl

GROWS FROM

שפל

š-p-l

The Aramaic root ⁨שפל⁩ (šĕphal) means to be low or to bring low.

“Put down” is a lowering: the ruler’s will moves someone from a higher position to a lower one. The same root appears in Daniel 4:37, where the King of heaven can abase the proud.

ALSO GROWS

šāphāl: Low, lowly.

שָׁפָל

This Hebrew cognate names the low position toward which the Aramaic verb brings someone.

hišpîl: To bring low, abase.

הִשְׁפִּיל

This Hebrew verb shares the root and makes the lowering action explicit.

THE PATTERN

The power to raise and lower rulers is received, and its reach is not ultimate.

And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Daniel 2:21 · KJVThe verse names the same authority over rulers, both removing them and setting them up.

The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

1 Samuel 2:7 · KJVThe verse holds low and lifted together as movements under the LORD’s power.

He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

Luke 1:52 · KJVThe verse shows status reversing in the same paired motion: the mighty lowered, the lowly raised.

THE THREAD

Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Daniel 4:37 · KJV

“Put down” in Daniel 5:19 and “abase” here share the Aramaic root ⁨שפל⁩ (š-p-l), meaning to be low or bring low. The root links the ruler’s power to lower others with the King of heaven’s power to abase the proud.

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