What Does Daniel 6:18 Mean in the King James?
Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went 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 Aramaic pictures sleep as wandering away, a rest the king’s rank cannot command to return.
THE MEANING
The king passes a night without food, music, or sleep. His unrest is described as sleep wandering away from him, beyond the reach of his position or surroundings. The verse speaks to the gap between managing what is around you and finding rest within yourself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that power over others guarantees command over your own inner state dissolves here: the king cannot summon sleep.
THE ROOT
נְדַדַת
nədadaṯ
GROWS FROM
נדד
to wander, flee, or move restlessly
“went from him” in this verse is nədadaṯ. The Aramaic verb for sleep’s departure carries the sense of wandering or fleeing. English says sleep went away; the root gives that absence motion, as if rest itself has become a wanderer beyond the king’s reach.
ALSO GROWS
nādad: to wander or flee
נָדַד
The root verb makes sleep’s departure feel like movement away from the king, not simply a failure to arrive.
nedudim: restless wanderings or tossings
נְדֻדִים
Job uses this related form for the restless night’s movements, giving a name to the kind of sleeplessness Daniel describes.
THE PATTERN
Distress strips away outward ease and makes inner unrest impossible to hide.
On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.THE THREAD
When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.Job’s “tossings to and fro” comes from the same root of wandering as the Aramaic word for sleep departing in Daniel. One verse pictures sleep wandering away; the other names the restless wanderings that fill the night.
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