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And by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will be strong and take action.
Daniel 11:32 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he pervert by flatteries; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and take action.
  • KJV And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
  • BSB With flattery he will corrupt those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.
  • NKJV Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.
  • NLT He will flatter and win over those who have violated the covenant. But the people who know their God will be strong and will resist him.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

He corrupts covenant-breakers by flattery, but those who know their God remain strong and act faithfully. In times of pressure, true knowledge of God produces steadfast courage.

Overview

While some are seduced into apostasy, the faithful, historically those who resisted in the Maccabean revolt, stand firm and act boldly. The contrast is striking: flattery turns the compromising, but those who truly know God are made strong. This abiding promise assures persecuted believers that intimacy with God yields courage no tyrant can overcome, a strength fully ours in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 24

  • Ps 9:10Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.
  • 1 Chr 28:9You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Yahweh searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
  • Zech 10:12I will strengthen them in Yahweh; and they will walk up and down in his name,” says Yahweh.
  • John 17:3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
  • Mic 5:7–9The remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples, like dew from Yahweh, like showers on the grass, that don’t wait for man, nor wait for the sons of men.
  • 2 Tim 2:1–3You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
  • 1 Jn 2:3–4This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments.
  • Zech 9:13–16For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.
  • Zech 12:3–7It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.
  • Zech 10:3–6My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats; For Yahweh of Armies has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his majestic horse in the battle.
  • 1 Jn 5:20We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
  • Jer 31:34and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh;’ for they shall all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says Yahweh: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.”
  • 2 Th 2:9–12even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
  • Heb 10:32–33But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings;
  • Mal 4:2But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.
  • Rev 13:12–15He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. He makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
  • 2 Cor 4:3–6Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who perish;
  • Prov 26:28A lying tongue hates those it hurts; and a flattering mouth works ruin.
  • Rev 7:9–10After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
  • Prov 19:5A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who pours out lies shall not go free.
  • Rev 12:7–11There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war.
  • Mic 7:15–17“As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things.”
  • Rev 6:11A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.
  • Zech 14:1–4Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your plunder will be divided within you.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Daniel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Daniel 11:32YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on DanielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Daniel sees the stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms, and 'one like a son of man' given everlasting dominion — titles and visions Jesus claims as his own.

How Daniel 11:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

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