Daniel 5:16

16 "But I personally have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now if you are able to read the inscription and make its ¹interpretation known to me, you will be ²clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom."

Daniel 5:16 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 5:16

And I have heard of thee
That is, by the queen, which he repeats for the sake of observing what she had said of him, and which gave him encouragement to send for him: that thou canst make interpretations;
of dreams, and of things hard to be understood: and dissolve doubts;
untie knots, solve difficulties, and answer hard and intricate questions: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the
interpretation thereof;
that which is upon the wall before thee, and which the wise men of Babylon could not: thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy
neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom;
the same reward he had proposed to the astrologers and soothsayers, ( Daniel 5:7 ) but what was no temptation or motive to Daniel, as appears by what follows:

Daniel 5:16 In-Context

14 "Now I have heard about you that a spirit of the gods is in you, and that illumination, insight and extraordinary wisdom have been found in you.

15 "Just now the wise men and the conjurers were brought in before me that they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not declare the interpretation of the message.

16 "But I personally have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now if you are able to read the inscription and make its interpretation known to me, you will be clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom."

17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, "Keep your gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him.

18 "O king, the Most High God granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 40:8
• 2. Daniel 5:7, 29

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "triumvir"