This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree that the Most High has issued against my lord the king:
Parallel translations
- WEB this is the interpretation, O king, and it is the decree of the Most High, which has come on my lord the king:
- KJV This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king:
- NKJV this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king:
- NASB this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king:
- NLT “‘This is what the dream means, Your Majesty, and what the Most High has declared will happen to my lord the king.
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
Daniel announces this is the decree of the Most High coming upon the king. The judgment is from God, not chance.
Overview
Daniel makes clear that the dream is a divine sentence already determined in heaven. The king's fate rests in the hands of the Most High he has ignored. Naming God as the source removes any doubt that this is a sovereign act meant to teach and humble.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 107:40He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
- Job 40:11–12Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.
- Isa 46:10–11I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Isa 23:9The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.
- Job 20:29This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”
- Isa 14:24–27The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
- Dan 4:17This decision is the decree of the watchers, the verdict declared by the holy ones, so that the living will know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes, setting over it the lowliest of men.’
- Ps 148:6He established them forever and ever; He issued a decree that will never pass away.
- Ps 2:7I will proclaim the decree spoken to Me by the LORD: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.
- Job 1:12–19“Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “Everything he has is in your hands, but you must not lay a hand on the man himself.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 4:24 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.