Daniel 5:6

6 Then his face changed and his thoughts terrified him, and {his hip joints gave way} and {his knees knocked together}.

Daniel 5:6 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 5:6

Then the kings countenance changed
Or, "his brightness" {l}; his ruddy countenance, his florid looks, his gay airs; all his jollity and mirth, that appeared in his face, were changed into paleness, sadness, and confusion: and his thoughts troubled him;
what should be the meaning of this; perhaps he might immediately fear it presaged ruin and destruction to him; the sins of his former life might at once come into his thoughts, and those particularly he had now been guilty of; his luxury and intemperance, his idolatry and profanation of the vessels of the sanctuary, which his conscience might accuse him of, and give him great distress and trouble: so that the joints of his loins were loosed;
or, "the girdles of his loins" ^F13; which were loosed or broke, through the agitation he was in; or he was all over in a sweat, so that he was obliged to loose his girdle; or, as persons in great fear and consternation, he was seized with a pain in his back; it opened as it were; nor could he hold his urine; as Grotius and others; see ( Isaiah 45:1 ) , where this seems to be prophesied of: and his knees smote one against another;
as is the case of persons in a great tremor, or under a panic. "Et subito genua intremuere timore".--Ovid.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 (yhwyz) "splendores ejus", Montanus, Vatablus, Michaelis.
F13 (hurx yrjq) "cingula lumborum ejus", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius.

Daniel 5:6 In-Context

4 They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.

5 {Immediately} {human fingers} appeared and they wrote {opposite} the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the palace of the king, and the king was watching the palm of the hand that was writing.

6 Then his face changed and his thoughts terrified him, and {his hip joints gave way} and {his knees knocked together}.

7 The king cried {aloud} to bring [in] the conjurers, the {astrologers} and the diviners; the king {spoke} and said to [the] wise men of Babylon, "Any man that can read this writing and can tell me its explanation will be clothed [in] purple and [will have] [a] necklace of gold [hung] around his neck and he will rule [as] third [in authority] in the kingdom."

8 Then all the wise men of the king came in, but they were not able to read the writing or to make known its explanation.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "the limbs of his hip became loose"
• [b] Literally "his knees this to this they knocked together"