Daniel 4:9

9 Belteshazzar, chief of the fortunetellers, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that you understand all mysteries. This is my dream. Tell me what it means.

Daniel 4:9 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 4:9

O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians
So he called him, either because he excelled them in knowledge, and was greater than they, as Jacchiades; though not of their rank and order, which Daniel would have scorned to have been among, and reckoned of; so that this would have been no compliment, but a grief unto him; or because he was appointed by the king chief over them, and even over their governors; (See Gill on Daniel 2:48): because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee;
(See Gill on Daniel 4:8); and no secret troubleth thee;
any ways perplexes thy mind to find it out; it is easy to thee to come at; it gives thee no manner of trouble to get knowledge of it; there is no secret hidden from thee; all is plain before thee, and with the utmost facility canst thou reveal it: tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen;
that is, the meaning of them; for the king remembered this his dream, and afterwards tells it very particularly: and the interpretation of it;
it may be rendered, "that is, the interpretation of it" ^F8; for that only was what the king wanted.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 (hrvpw) "id est, interpretationem ejus", Junius & Tremellius, Broughtonus, Michaelis.

Daniel 4:9 In-Context

7 Then all the fortunetellers, magicians, wizards, and astrologers were brought in, and I told them my dream, but they could not explain it to me.

8 Then Daniel came in. (He is also called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god.) The spirit of the holy gods is in him, so I told him what I had dreamed. I said to him:

9 Belteshazzar, chief of the fortunetellers, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that you understand all mysteries. This is my dream. Tell me what it means.

10 "While I was asleep, I had a vision of a huge tree in the middle of the earth.

11 It grew bigger and bigger until it reached the sky and could be seen by everyone in the world.

Footnotes

• [a] gods; [or] God.
• [b] [Probable text] This is; [Aramaic] Visions of.