What Does Daniel 6:24 Mean in the King James?
And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.
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 idiom for the men who accused Daniel pictures them as “eating his pieces,” before the verse describes their bodies and bones crushed by the lions.
THE MEANING
The king’s command reaches the men who accused Daniel, their children, and their wives. The lions have mastery over them before they reach the bottom, breaking all their bones in pieces. The verse holds accusation, royal power, and bodily destruction in one stark scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that punishment stays confined to the accused is undone here: the command sweeps in their wives and children too.
THE ROOT
אֲכַלּוּ קַרְצֹוהִי
ʾăḵalū qarṣōhî
GROWS FROM
אכל
eat, consume
The Aramaic idiom behind “accused” pictures the men as “eating Daniel’s pieces,” making accusation sound like consumption. The verse carries that bodily image into the lions’ mastery and the crushing of bones, while the king’s command also engulfs their families.
ALSO GROWS
ʾăḵālāh: food
אֲכָלָה
This noun from אכל keeps the root’s sense of consuming visible beneath the accusation idiom.
ʾōḵēl: eater
אָכֵל
The eater is the one who consumes; the idiom makes the accusers’ speech itself sound predatory.
שְׁלִטוּ
šəlîṭû
GROWS FROM
שלט
have power, rule, dominate
“had the mastery” in this verse is šəlîṭû. The lions do not merely attack; the verse says they exercise dominion over the people cast into the den. The language sets the king’s command beside another power whose rule ends in crushed bones.
ALSO GROWS
šoltān: dominion, authority
שָׁלְטָן
This noun names the rule or power expressed by the lions’ mastery in the verse.
šelîṭ: having power, in control
שְׁלִיט
This form describes one who holds power, echoing the verse’s account of the lions controlling the outcome.
THE PATTERN
Scripture pictures hostile speech and predatory power through images of mouths that consume, wound, or devour.
Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.THE THREAD
Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.The Aramaic phrase translated “accused” shares the same wording as Daniel 6:24, literally picturing the accusers as eating the pieces of their target. Here that consuming image stands beside bodies thrown to lions and bones crushed, making the force of the idiom newly visible.
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