Daniel 4:9

9 "O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that you are endowed with a spirit of the holy gods and that no mystery is too difficult for you. Hear the dream that I saw; tell me its interpretation.

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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Daniel 4:9 In-Context

7 Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the diviners came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not tell me its interpretation.
8 At last Daniel came in before me—he who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and who is endowed with a spirit of the holy gods —and I told him the dream:
9 "O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that you are endowed with a spirit of the holy gods and that no mystery is too difficult for you. Hear the dream that I saw; tell me its interpretation.
10 Upon my bed this is what I saw; there was a tree at the center of the earth, and its height was great.
11 The tree grew great and strong, its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the ends of the whole earth.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or [a holy, divine spirit]
  • [b]. Theodotion: Aram [The visions of]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.