Then a mighty king will arise, who will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.
Parallel translations
- WEB A mighty king shall stand up, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
- KJV And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
- NKJV Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
- NASB And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.
- NLT “Then a mighty king will rise to power who will rule with great authority and accomplish everything he sets out to do.
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
A mighty king will arise and rule with great dominion, doing as he pleases. This foretells the rise of a dominant world conqueror.
Overview
Conservative interpreters widely identify this mighty king as Alexander the Great, whose Greek empire swiftly overran the Persians. The phrase 'do according to his will' marks his apparent autonomy, yet he serves, unknowingly, within God's larger plan. The precision of the prophecy underscores that even the greatest human powers act only within the bounds the Lord sets.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Dan 11:16The invader will do as he pleases, and no one will stand against him. He will establish himself in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.
- Dan 11:36Then the king will do as he pleases and will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and he will speak monstrous things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must be accomplished.
- Dan 8:21The shaggy goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king.
- Dan 7:6Next, as I watched, another beast appeared. It was like a leopard, and on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.
- Dan 5:19Because of the greatness that He bestowed on him, the people of every nation and language trembled in fear before him. He killed whom he wished and kept alive whom he wished; he exalted whom he wished and humbled whom he wished.
- Heb 2:4and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.
- Dan 4:35All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
- Eph 1:11In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
- Jas 1:18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.
- Dan 8:4–14I saw the ram charging toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and there was no deliverance from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.
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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 11:3 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.