Daniel 4:30
in Daniel 4the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?
KJV
The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
⋯
This verse in Daniel 4
Commentary
7 notes on this verseIs not this great Babylon - Here his heart was inflated with pride; he attributed every thing to himself, and acknowledged God in nothing. The walls, hanging gardens, temple of Bel, and the royal palace, all built by Nebuchadnezzar, made it the greatest city in the world.
This site's exposition
came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar
on Daniel 4:28-30
All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar, but not for twelve months, a delay the bench reads as God's own patience giving the counsel of verse 27 its full season to be taken up or refused. The king is found walking in his own palace naming his own achievement, is not this great Babylon, that I have built, the pride the whole vision existed to answer spoken aloud in the very words the sentence was meant to prevent. Barnes notes the irony of the timing, judgment falling in the same breath as the boast that provoked it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Then the king became even more insolent, even as God was patient and had shown magnanimity by endeavoring to lead him to repentance. And as he walked on the terrace of the royal house and looked around over his fortune, he said, "Where became of …
For if the glory of those who lie in prominence is like dry leaves, which blossom for a little while but immediately waste away, how does it aid Nebuchadnezzar the king when he says this immoderate statement, "Is this Babylon not great, which I myself built as a house for my kingdom, for the rule of my strength, for the honor of my glory?" [Daniel 4:30] When after he was banished, he ate vegetation with the beasts in the mountains?
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The king spake and said,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Scarcely a figure in stone, or tablet, has been dug out of the rubbish heaps of Babylon, whereas Nineveh abounds in them; fulfilling Jer 51:37, "Babylon shall become heaps." The "I" is emphatic, by which he puts himself in the place of God; so the "my . . . my." He impiously opposes his might to God's, as though God's threat, uttered a year before, could never come to pass.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The king spake and said - The Chaldee, and the Greek of Theodotion and of the Codex Chisianus here is, “the king answered and said:” perhaps he replied to some remark made by his attendants in regard to the magnitude of the city; or perhaps the word “answered” is used, as it often seems to be in the Scriptures, to denote a reply to something passing in the mind that is not uttered; to some question or inquiry that the mind starts. He might merely have been thinking of the magnitude of this city, and he gave response to those thoughts in the language which follows. Is not this great Babylon, that I have built - In regard to the situation and the magnitude of Babylon, and the agency of Nebuchadnezzar in beautifying and enlarging it, see the analysis prefixed to the notes at Isa. 13. He greatly enlarged the city; built a new city on the west side of the river; reared a magnificent palace; and constructed the celebrated hanging gardens; and, in fact, made the city so different from what it was, and so greatly increased its splendor, that he could say without impropriety that he had “built” it. For the house of the kingdom - To be considered altogether - embracing the whole city - as a sort of palace of the kingdom. He seems to have looked upon the whole city as one vast palace fitted to be an appropriate residence of the sovereign of so vast an empire. And for the honour of my majesty - To ennoble or glorify my reign; or where one of so much majesty as I am may find an appropriate home.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עָנֵ֤ה | ʾaneh | [was] replying | H6032 → | 30 times |
| מַלְכָּא֙ | malka' | king the | H4430 → | 180 times |
| וְאָמַ֔ר | veamar | and [was] saying | H560 → | 71 times |
| הֲלָ֥א | hala' | ¿ not | H3809 → | 82 times |
| דָא־ | da'- | [is] this | H1668 → | 6 times |
| הִ֖יא | hi' | it | H1932 → | 22 times |
| בָּבֶ֣ל | bavel | Babylon | H895 → | 25 times |
| רַבְּתָ֑א | rabeta' | <the> great | H7229 → | 15 times |
| דִּֽי־ | di- | which | H1768 → | 345 times |
| אֲנָ֤ה | ʾanah | I | H576 → | 16 times |
| בֱנַיְתַהּ֙ | venaytah | I built it | H1124 → | |
| לְבֵ֣ית | leveit | to a house of | H1005 → | 44 times |
| מַלְכ֔וּ | malkhu | a kingdom | H4437 → | 57 times |
| בִּתְקַ֥ף | bitkaf | by [the] strength of | H8632 → | |
| חִסְנִ֖י | chisni | power my | H2632 → | |
| וְלִיקָ֥ר | velikar | and for [the] honor of | H3367 → | 7 times |
| הַדְרִֽי׃ | hadri | majesty my | H1923 → | 3 times |
עָנֵ֤ה[was] replying
ʾanehH6032 →30 times
מַלְכָּא֙king the
malka'H4430 →180 times
וְאָמַ֔רand [was] saying
veamarH560 →71 times
הֲלָ֥א¿ not
hala'H3809 →82 times
דָא־[is] this
da'-H1668 →6 times
הִ֖יאit
hi'H1932 →22 times
בָּבֶ֣לBabylon
bavelH895 →25 times
רַבְּתָ֑א<the> great
rabeta'H7229 →15 times
דִּֽי־which
di-H1768 →345 times
אֲנָ֤הI
ʾanahH576 →16 times
בֱנַיְתַהּ֙I built it
venaytahH1124 →
לְבֵ֣יתto a house of
leveitH1005 →44 times
מַלְכ֔וּa kingdom
malkhuH4437 →57 times
בִּתְקַ֥ףby [the] strength of
bitkafH8632 →
חִסְנִ֖יpower my
chisniH2632 →
וְלִיקָ֥רand for [the] honor of
velikarH3367 →7 times
הַדְרִֽי׃majesty my
hadriH1923 →3 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 16:18Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
it leads to
- Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.
- Isaiah 2:11–12
The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
- Proverbs 18:12
Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
- Obadiah 1:3–4
The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’
- Proverbs 29:23
A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
- Proverbs 11:2
Through
Revelation 17:5And on her forehead a mysterious name was written: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
it leads to
- Revelation 14:8
Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 14:8
Through
Revelation 18:10In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
it leads to
- Revelation 18:19
Then they will throw dust on their heads as they weep and mourn and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, where all who had ships on the sea were enriched by her…
- Revelation 18:8
Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
- Revelation 18:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this chapter
About Daniel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Daniel; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:30; Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 3.7.1-3; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).