Daniel 4:5
in Daniel 4I had a dream, and it frightened me; while in my bed, the images and visions in my mind alarmed me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
KJV
I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
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This verse in Daniel 4
Commentary
7 notes on this verseVerse 5. "'I beheld a dream which terrified me, and my thoughts while upon my bed...'" Let our opponents answer what kind of a dream the hostile power would have seen, unless perhaps everything he appears to possess in this world is a mere shadowy dream. "'And the visions of my head greatly disturbed me.'" Note how Nebuchadnezzar realized that his visions were not those of his eyes and heart, but rather of his head, because it was for the glory of God's future servants that these secrets were being revealed to him.
This site's exposition
at ease in my house
on Daniel 4:4-6
The narrative opens with the king “at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace,” settled again in the same security. A second dream frightens him, and he decrees “all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me,” the court that failed in chapter two.
This site's exposition
and it frightened me
Verse 4 had just found the king at ease and flourishing. Matthew Henry contrasts his soft and well-guarded bed with the thoughts that troubled him on it. Albert Barnes traces the fear to a sense that the dream disclosed something of great importance.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
I saw a dream which made me afraid,....
His bed, no doubt, was soft, and easy, and well-guarded, and yet his own thoughts upon his bed made him uneasy, and the visions of his head, the creatures of his own imagination, troubled him.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
I saw a dream - See this dream circumstantially explained in the following verses.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I saw a dream - That is, he saw a representation made to him in a dream. There is something incongruous in our language in saying of one that he saw a dream. Which made me afraid - The fear evidently arose from the apprehension that it was designed to disclose some important and solemn event. This was in accordance with a prevalent belief then (comp. Dan 2:1), and it may be added that it is in accordance with a prevalent belief now.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חֵ֥לֶם | chelem | a dream | H2493 → | 22 times |
| חֲזֵ֖ית | chazeit | I saw | H2370 → | 31 times |
| וִֽידַחֲלִנַּ֑נִי | vidachalinani | and it made afraid me | H1763 → | 6 times |
| וְהַרְהֹרִין֙ | veharhorin | and imaginings | H2031 → | |
| עַֽל־ | ʾal- | on | H5922 → | 104 times |
| מִשְׁכְּבִ֔י | mishkevi | bed my | H4903 → | 6 times |
| וְחֶזְוֵ֥י | vechezvei | and [the] visions of | H2376 → | 12 times |
| רֵאשִׁ֖י | reshi | head my | H7217 → | 14 times |
| יְבַהֲלֻנַּֽנִי׃ | yevahalunani | they alarmed me | H927 → | 11 times |
חֵ֥לֶםa dream
chelemH2493 →22 times
חֲזֵ֖יתI saw
chazeitH2370 →31 times
וִֽידַחֲלִנַּ֑נִיand it made afraid me
vidachalinaniH1763 →6 times
וְהַרְהֹרִין֙and imaginings
veharhorinH2031 →
עַֽל־on
ʾal-H5922 →104 times
מִשְׁכְּבִ֔יbed my
mishkeviH4903 →6 times
וְחֶזְוֵ֥יand [the] visions of
vechezveiH2376 →12 times
רֵאשִׁ֖יhead my
reshiH7217 →14 times
יְבַהֲלֻנַּֽנִי׃they alarmed me
yevahalunaniH927 →11 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
Genesis 41:1After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,
it leads to
- Genesis 29:14
Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month,
- Genesis 20:3
One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”
- Job 33:15–16
In a dream, in a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds,
- Ezekiel 29:9
The land of Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it,’
- Exodus 4:9
But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from…
- Genesis 29:14
Through
Daniel 5:10Hearing the outcry of the king and his nobles, the queen entered the banquet hall. “O king, may you live forever!” she said. “Do not let your thoughts terrify you, or your face grow…
it leads to
- Daniel 3:9
saying to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, may you live forever!
- Daniel 2:4
Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”
- Daniel 6:6
So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said, “O King Darius, may you live forever!
- Daniel 3:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies5
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 FOUR; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.