Then the herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and languages,
Parallel translations
- KJV Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
- BSB Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “O people of every nation and language, this is what you are commanded:
- 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 4:1Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all the peoples, nations, and languages, who dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.
- Dan 6:25Then king Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages, who dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.
- Mic 6:16For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of Ahab’s house. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and her inhabitants a hissing; And you will bear the reproach of my people.”
- Dan 4:14He cried aloud, and said thus, Cut down the tree, and cut off its branches, shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit: let the animals get away from under it, and the fowls from its branches.
- Isa 40:9You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don’t be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”
- Esth 8:9Then the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing, and in their language.
- Isa 58:1“Cry aloud, don’t spare. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
- Prov 9:13–15The foolish woman is loud, undisciplined, and knows nothing.
- Hos 5:11Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; Because he is intent in his pursuit of idols.
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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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