What Does Daniel 8:25 Mean in the King James?
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
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 word rendered “peace” is shalvah, ease or security, and here it is precisely through that calm that many are destroyed.
THE MEANING
This verse shows deception succeeding through a person’s own hand, enlarging the heart’s image of itself, and turning ease into the setting for many people’s destruction. Even the one who rises against the Prince of princes is broken without a human hand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse breaks the belief that calm success proves a power is harmless: it names ease itself as the channel through which many are destroyed.
THE ROOT
בְּשַׁלְוָה
bəshalvah
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ל־ו
sh-l-w
To be at ease, undisturbed, or secure.
Here “peace” is שַׁלְוָה (shalvah, ease or security), a different Hebrew word from שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness). The verse reveals that ease can itself become the means of ruin: what feels settled may give destructive power its path.
ALSO GROWS
shalew: A person or state that is tranquil or untroubled.
שָׁלֵו
It shows the quiet condition carried by shalvah, the very condition through which destruction advances here.
shalvatam: The ease or prosperity belonging to a group.
שַׁלְוָתָם
Proverbs uses this same word family when it says the ease of fools destroys them, making Daniel’s paradox explicit.
מִרְמָה
mirmah
GROWS FROM
רמה
r-m-h
To deceive, betray, or deal treacherously.
The thing that prospers is מִרְמָה (mirmah, deceit or treachery). “Policy” and “craft” can sound like neutral cleverness in English, while the Hebrew makes betrayal part of the operation itself.
ALSO GROWS
ramah: A verb describing deception or betrayal.
רָמָה
It shows that mirmah is not merely a plan but the act of deceiving that makes the plan succeed.
remiyyah: Deceitful conduct or betrayal.
רְמִיָּה
This related noun reinforces that the prospering craft is rooted in treachery.
יִשָּׁבֵר
yishaver
GROWS FROM
שבר
sh-b-r
To break or shatter.
After power works “in his hand,” he is broken “without hand.” The passive wording leaves the instrument unstated, while the contrast shows that human force is not needed for his end.
ALSO GROWS
shavar: The verb for breaking or smashing something.
שָׁבַר
It makes the final outcome a real breaking, not merely a loss of status.
shever: A break or shattered condition.
שֶׁבֶר
This noun form makes visible the state reached by the one who had magnified himself.
THE PATTERN
Ease and assurances of peace can become the very cover through which ruin arrives.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.THE THREAD
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.Proverbs uses the same שׁ־ל־ו root in “prosperity”: the ease of the foolish itself destroys them. That shared word makes Daniel’s paradox unmistakable, security can become the means through which destruction proceeds.
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