Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “O people of every nation and language, this is what you are commanded:
Parallel translations
- WEB Then the herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and languages,
- KJV Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
- NKJV Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,
- NASB Then the herald loudly proclaimed: “To you the command is given, you peoples, nations, and populations of all languages,
- NLT Then a herald shouted out, “People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king’s command!
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 herald proclaims the command to all peoples, nations, and languages. The decree is meant to be universal and inescapable.
Overview
The phrase "peoples, nations, and languages" recurs throughout Daniel to stress the worldwide reach of Babylon's claim. The herald's public proclamation leaves no one ignorant of the law. Yet such a universal demand for worship belongs to God alone, and the chapter will show that no human empire can rightly claim it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Dan 4:1King Nebuchadnezzar, To the people of every nation and language who dwell in all the earth: May your prosperity be multiplied.
- Dan 6:25Then King Darius wrote to the people of every nation and language throughout the land: “May your prosperity abound.
- Mic 6:16You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”
- Dan 4:14He called out in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and chop off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.
- Isa 40:9Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
- Esth 8:9At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.
- Isa 58:1“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.
- Prov 9:13–15The woman named Folly is loud; she is naive and knows nothing.
- Hos 5:11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow worthless idols.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 3:4 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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