What Does Daniel 5:20 Mean in the King James?
But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
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 king’s inner breath itself grows strong in pride, as the heart’s ascent already turns toward a fall.
THE MEANING
When your inner breath strengthens toward pride, your heart rises above others while your status remains removable. A throne and its honor can disappear, exposing the limits of the pride that claimed them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The specific lie is that a high position makes a person untouchable. The verse shows that rank and public honor can be taken away.
THE ROOT
רוּחֵהּ
rûḥēh his breath
GROWS FROM
רוּחַ
r-w-ḥ
Breath or wind; the moving air and, by extension, a person’s inner disposition.
The Aramaic word rendered “mind” also means breath and wind, keeping thought, disposition, and animating breath connected. The verse locates pride in the force of the person’s inner being, which becomes hardened toward arrogance.
ALSO GROWS
rûaḥ: Wind
רוּחַ
This is the same word as the king’s inner disposition, keeping his inward state connected to moving air.
rûaḥ: Breath
רוּחַ
The word rendered “mind” also carries the sense of breath, linking the king’s inward posture to his animating force.
רִם
rīm
GROWS FROM
רוּם
r-w-m
Rise, be high, or raise up.
“lifted up” in this verse is rīm. The heart takes on height, and the passage answers that ascent with removal from the throne. The vertical movement reveals the reversal hidden in the sequence: what rises in pride can be brought low.
ALSO GROWS
rûm: Rise or be high
רוּם
This is the root’s basic movement, echoed in the heart being lifted up.
rām: High or exalted
רָם
This related form shows elevation as a state the heart assumes before the throne is lost.
תִּקְפַת
tiqpat
GROWS FROM
תְּקַף
t-q-p
Become strong, forceful, or prevailing.
“hardened” in this verse is tiqpat. The Aramaic carries the sense of becoming strong, while the surrounding words direct that force toward pride. Inner strength here does not protect the king’s position; it hardens into presumption as his throne and honor are taken.
ALSO GROWS
taqqîp: Strong or mighty
תַּקִּיף
This related form makes the force in “hardened” visible as strength.
teqōp: Strength or power
תְּקוֹף
The same root can name power itself, sharpening the passage’s contrast between inner force and lost royal power.
THE PATTERN
Pride’s apparent elevation does not secure a person from being brought low.
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.Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.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 names the reversal already visible here: the one who walks in pride can be brought low. It opens this verse by showing the loss of throne and honor as part of a wider pattern in which pride’s apparent height remains vulnerable.
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