What Does Daniel 6:20 Mean in the King James?
And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?
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 asks about deliverance from inside the den’s danger, so the verse does not confuse rescue with a life untouched by peril.
THE MEANING
The question reaches you where danger is real: can the living God bring you out from inside it? The verse leaves the lions visible and deliverance possible, without making the outcome clear.
THE ROOT
שֵׁיזָבוּת
shēzāḇûṯ
GROWS FROM
שזב
sh-z-b
To rescue or deliver from danger.
“deliver” in this verse is shēzāḇûṯ. The Aramaic root gathers rescue into the danger itself: the king asks whether Daniel can be delivered from among the lions. The word leaves peril visible while making rescue a live possibility.
ALSO GROWS
shēzîḇ: To deliver or rescue.
שֵׁיזִיב
This verbal form appears in Daniel 3:17, where deliverance is spoken of while the fiery furnace remains a real threat.
məšēzîḇ: One who delivers or rescues.
מְשֵׁיזִב
Daniel 6:27 uses this form to name God as deliverer, answering the question raised here.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance is named while the threat is still visible, so danger does not settle whether rescue is possible.
The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;THE THREAD
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.The question at the den echoes the same Aramaic root in these words. Here, too, deliverance is named while the threat remains in view.
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