39 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Daniel (whose name was Belteshazzar) was astonied for one hour,.... Not at the difficulty of interpreting the dream, which was plain and easy to him; but at the sad and shocking things he saw plainly by the dream were coming upon the king: and though he was a wicked prince, and justly deserved such treatment; and thus he continued for the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The tree which thou sawest, e.] In these two verses is related part of the dream, which respects the flourishing estate of Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom [See comments on Daniel 4:10], [See comments on Daniel 4:11], [See comments on Daniel 4:12].
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[See comments on Daniel 4:20].
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
It is thou, O king, that art grown, and become strong,.... Here begins the interpretation of the dream: the tree was an emblem of King Nebuchadnezzar, of his greatness, and growing power and strength: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven; he overtopped all the kings of the earth, exceeding them in honour and power, and aspired to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And whereas the king saw a watcher, and an Holy One,.... Here is related another part of the dream, which respects the cutting down of the tree, or the miserable condition the king should be brought into; see Daniel 4:13.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
This is the interpretation, O king,.... Of this part of the dream, namely, what follows in the two next verses: and this is the decree of the most High; called before the decree of the watchers, Daniel 4:17, and is no other than the decree of that sovereign and absolute Being, whose purposes are unfrustrable: which is come upon my lord the king;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That they shall drive thee from men,.... From conversation with men, as unfit for it; from his court and palace, from his nobles and princes. Saadiah interprets this of the angels: it may be rendered impersonally or passively, as in Daniel 4:33, "thou shalt be driven from men" (r); not by his family, his wife and children; or by his nobles, who...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots,.... That is the watchers and the Holy Ones; or it was commanded: this was the order given by the most High: thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee; signifying that another king should not be set up in his place; and though the kingdom and administration of it would depart from, him for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to thee,.... Since this is the true interpretation of the dream, and such evils are like to befall thee according to it, permit me, though thou art a king, and I am thy minister or servant, to give thee some advice; and let it be taken in good part, as done with a good design, and a hearty concern...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. All that was signified in the dream, his madness, the removal of him from the administration of government, and the brutal life he lived for seven years; for this was not a mere parable or fiction, as some have thought, framed to describe the state and punishment of a proud man, but was a real fact;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
At the end of twelve months,.... After the dream, and the interpretation of it; which, according to Bishop Usher (s), Dean Prideaux (t), and Mr. Whiston (u), was in the year of the world 3435 A.M., and before Christ 569, and in the thirty sixth year of his reign: one whole year, a space of time, either which God gave him to repent in, or which he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The king spake and said,.... Either within himself, or to his nobles about him; or perhaps to foreigners he had took up with him hither to show the grandeur of the city: is not this great Babylon, that I have built; he might well call it great, for, according to Aristotle (c), it was more like a country than a city; it was, as Pliny (d) says,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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, so Abydenus (g), in the account he gives of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they shall drive thee from men,.... According to the interpretation of the dream given by Daniel, which this voice from heaven confirms; [See comments on Daniel 4:25], where the same things are said as here.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar,.... Whence it appears that this was a true history, and a matter of fact; and not a parable or allegory, as Origen thought, describing the fall of Lucifer or Satan; but relates what befell Nebuchadnezzar himself: nor was the change real as to soul and body; for then he would not have been...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And at the end of the days,.... Of the time fixed in the dream; that is, at the end of seven years, as Jarchi rightly interprets it; this according to Bishop Usher (n), Dean Prideaux (o), and Mr. Whiston (p), was in the year of the world 3442 A.M., and before Christ 563, in the forty second year of his reign; after which he lived but one year,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,.... That is, by the most high God, in comparison of him; and that not only the common people, but magistrates, princes, and kings, and even so great a monarch as Nebuchadnezzar; they are like mere nonentities, nothing as to existence, substance, greatness, glory, and duration, when...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
At the same time my reason returned unto me,.... Or, "my understanding" (q); this he repeats, not only to express the certainty of it, but the sense he had of the greatness of the favour, and of which what he said at this time is a full proof: and for the glory of my kingdom mine honour and brightness returned unto me: or "form" (r), as the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven,.... Now he knew that the heavens ruled, and that there was a God and a King there, above all gods and kings; who had brought him low, and raised him up again, and to whom were owing all his present glory and magnificence, and therefore worthy of his highest praises; and which he...