Daniel 4:31

31 When the word was yet in the mouth of the king, a voice fell down from heaven, (and said,) Nebuchadnezzar, king, it is said to thee, Thy realm is passed from thee, (And when these words were still in the king's mouth, a voice came down from heaven, and said, King Nebuchadnezzar, it is said to thee, Thy kingdom hath now passed from thee/Thy kingdom is now taken away from thee,)

Daniel 4:31 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 4:31

While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice
from heaven
Before the king had done speaking in the above boasting manner, an articulate voice from heaven was heard by him, and all about him, formed by the angels, and much like what the Jews call Bath Kol; see ( Acts 12:21-23 ) , so Abydenus ^F7, in the account he gives of Nebuchadnezzar's oration to the people, relates, that when the king had spoke it, (paracrhma hfanisto) , immediately he disappeared:

saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is
departed from thee;
that is, the administration of it; for he was not deposed, or declared to be no longer king; his office was not taken away from him, and another king set upon the throne; only the administration was taken into other hands, either of his wife or son, or his nobles; he being unfit for it, till such time as his reason returned to him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 41. p. 457.)

Daniel 4:31 In-Context

29 After the end of twelve months he walked in the hall (of the palace) of Babylon; (Yea, after twelve months, when he walked in the hall of the palace in Babylon;)

30 and the king answered, and said, Whether this is not Babylon, the great city, which I builded into the house of (the) realm, in the might of my strength, and in the glory of my fairness? (and the king said to himself, Is this not Babylon, the great city, which I have built into the capital of my kingdom, or of my empire, by the might of my strength, and in the glory of my beauty?)

31 When the word was yet in the mouth of the king, a voice fell down from heaven, (and said,) Nebuchadnezzar, king, it is said to thee, Thy realm is passed from thee, (And when these words were still in the king's mouth, a voice came down from heaven, and said, King Nebuchadnezzar, it is said to thee, Thy kingdom hath now passed from thee/Thy kingdom is now taken away from thee,)

32 and they shall cast thee out from men, and thy dwelling shall be with beasts and wild beasts; thou shalt eat hay, as an ox doeth, and seven times shall be changed on thee, till thou know that [the] high God is Lord in the realm of men, and giveth it to whomever he will. (and they shall throw thee out from among people, and thy habitation shall be with the beasts and the wild beasts; thou shalt eat grass, like an ox doeth, and seven years shall pass over thee, until thou knowest, or thou acknowledgest, that the Most High God is the Lord over the kingdom of people, and giveth it to whomever he will.)

33 In the same hour the word was fulfilled [up]on Nebuchadnezzar, and he was cast out from men, and he ate hay, as an ox doeth, and his body was coloured with the dew of heaven, till his hairs waxed at the likeness of eagles? (feathers), and his nails as the nails, [or (the) claws,] of birds. (In that same hour the word was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was thrown out from among people, and he ate grass, like an ox doeth, and his body was sprinkled with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew into the likeness of eagles? feathers, and his nails like birds? claws.)