Daniel 11:9
in Daniel 11who will invade the realm of the king of the South and then return to his own land.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he shall come into the realm of the king of the south, but he shall return into his own land.
KJV
So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land.
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This verse in Daniel 11
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
The king of the South
on Daniel 11:5-20
Verses 5 to 20 trace the wars of the South and the North, identified by Barnes and Gill as the Ptolemies and Seleucids. At verse 16 the invader stands in “the Beautiful Land,” and it ends with a king destroyed “though not in anger or in battle”.
This site's exposition
then return to his own land
The Berean makes the king of the North the invader here. Albert Barnes and Adam Clarke read the older wording, where Ptolemy Euergetes enters the northern kingdom and goes home. Clarke says a revolt in Egypt called him back, or he would have destroyed the kingdom of Callinicus.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"And the king of the South shall enter into the kingdom and shall return to his own land." And he himself retained possession of Syria, but he handed over Cilicia to his friend, Antiochus, that he might govern it, and the provinces beyond the Euphrates he handed over to Xanthippus, another general.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
) he shall be forced to come into his kingdom and return into his own land, to keep peace there, so that he can no longer carry on the war abroad. Note, It is very common for a treacherous peace to end in a bloody war.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
But his sons - He means the sons of the king of the north, shall be incensed with the deeds of Ptolemaeus Euergetes, and his son Ptolemaeus Philopator. One shall come - Antiochus the great, shall pass through Syria and recover what the king of Egypt took from his father. Even to his fortress - To Raphia, which was a strong fortress at the entrance of Egypt.
So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom,....
The kingdom of Syria, which was set up by Seleucus Nicanor, or the conqueror; he was one of Alexander's princes, and became stronger than the other, and had the greatest dominion of all, was the most powerful of all Alexander's successors. It was said that he had no fewer than seven-two kingdoms under him.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
So the king of the south - Ptolemy Euergetes: - Shall come into his kingdom - That of Seleucus Callinicus. And shall return - Having heard that a sedition had taken place in Egypt, Ptolemy Euergetes was obliged to return speedily in order to repress it; else he had wholly destroyed the kingdom of Callinicus.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom - That is, into the kingdom of the north, or the kingdom of Syria. This verse seems to be a summary of what had been said about his invading Syria. He would come, on account of the wrongs done to his sister, into the kingdom of the north, and would then return again to his own land.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And his sons [i.e., the sons] of the king of the north will agitate.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּבָ֗א | uva' | and he will go | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בְּמַלְכוּת֙ | bemalkhut | in [the] kingdom of | H4438 → | 91 times |
| מֶ֣לֶךְ | melekh | [the] king of | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| הַנֶּ֔גֶב | hanegev | the south | H5045 → | 112 times |
| וְשָׁ֖ב | veshav | and he will return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אַדְמָתֽוֹ׃ | ʾadmato | own land his | H127 → | 225 times |
וּבָ֗אand he will go
uva'H935 →2568 times
בְּמַלְכוּת֙in [the] kingdom of
bemalkhutH4438 →91 times
מֶ֣לֶךְ[the] king of
melekhH4428 →2525 times
הַנֶּ֔גֶבthe south
hanegevH5045 →112 times
וְשָׁ֖בand he will return
veshavH7725 →1056 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אַדְמָתֽוֹ׃own land his
ʾadmatoH127 →225 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About Daniel
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); Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER ELEVEN; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.