Daniel 1:20

Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

and `in' any matter of wisdom `and' understanding that the king hath sought of them, he findeth them ten hands above all the scribes, the enchanters, who `are' in all his kingdom.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְכֹ֗ל דְּבַר֙ חָכְמַ֣ת בִּינָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־בִּקֵּ֥שׁ מֵהֶ֖ם הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ וַֽיִּמְצָאֵ֞ם עֶ֣שֶׂר יָד֗וֹת עַ֤ל כָּל־הַֽחַרְטֻמִּים֙ הָֽאַשָּׁפִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּכָל־מַלְכוּתֽוֹ׃

Transliteration

and-every dəbhar ḥokhmath bînāh ʾăsher-biqqēsh from-them the-melekh wayyimtsāʾēm ten yādhôth above all-the-ḥarṭummîm the-ʾashshāphîm ʾăsher in-all-malkhûthô

Grammar Details

• *dəbhar*: noun masculine singular construct - matter of
• *ḥokhmath*: noun feminine singular construct - wisdom of
• *bînāh*: noun feminine singular - understanding
• *ʾăsher*: relative pronoun - who
• *biqqēsh*: piel perfect, 3rd masculine singular - he sought
• *melekh*: noun masculine singular with definite article - the king
• *wayyimtsāʾēm*: qal imperfect with waw consecutive, 3rd masculine singular + 3rd masculine plural suffix - and he found them
• *yādhôth*: noun feminine plural - hands/times
• *ḥarṭummîm*: noun masculine plural with definite article - the magicians
• *ʾashshāphîm*: noun masculine plural with definite article - the enchanters/astrologers
• *malkhûthô*: noun feminine singular with 3rd masculine singular suffix - his kingdom

Word Meanings

• *dəbhar ḥokhmath bînāh*: matter of wisdom and understanding/question requiring wisdom
• *biqqēsh*: sought/inquired/asked
• *wayyimtsāʾēm*: and he found them/and he discovered them
• *ʿeśer yādhôth*: ten times/tenfold
• *ḥarṭummîm*: magicians/diviners/dream interpreters
• *ʾashshāphîm*: enchanters/astrologers/conjurers
• *malkhûthô*: his kingdom/his realm/his domain

Referenced Verses

• 1 Kgs 4:29-34 : 29 And God giveth wisdom to Solomon, and understanding, very much, and breadth of heart, as the sand that `is' on the edge of the sea; 30 and the wisdom of Solomon is greater than the wisdom of any of the sons of the east, and than all the wisdom of Egypt; 31 and he is wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol, and his name is in all the nations round about. 32 And he speaketh three thousand similes, and his songs `are' five, and the chief one; 33 and he speaketh concerning the trees, from the cedar that `is' in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that is coming out in the wall, and he speaketh concerning the cattle, and concerning the fowl, and concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fishes, 34 and there come out of all the peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth who have heard of his wisdom.
• Gen 31:7 : 7 and your father hath played upon me, and hath changed my hire ten times; and God hath not suffered him to do evil with me.
• Gen 41:8 : 8 And it cometh to pass in the morning, that his spirit is moved, and he sendeth and calleth all the scribes of Egypt, and all its wise men, and Pharaoh recounteth to them his dream, and there is no interpreter of them to Pharaoh.
• Exod 7:22 : 22 And the scribes of Egypt do so with their flashings, and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken,
• Exod 8:7 : 7 and the scribes do so with their flashings, and cause the frogs to come up against the land of Egypt.
• Exod 8:19 : 19 and the scribes say unto Pharaoh, `It `is' the finger of God;' and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken.
• Num 14:22 : 22 for all the men who are seeing My honour, and My signs, which I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and try Me these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice --
• 1 Kgs 10:23-24 : 23 And king Solomon is greater than any of the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom, 24 and all the earth is seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom that God hath put into his heart,
• Neh 4:12 : 12 And it cometh to pass, when the Jews have come who are dwelling near them, that they say to us ten times from all the places whither ye return -- `they are' against us.
• Job 19:3 : 3 These ten times ye put me to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me --
• Dan 2:13 : 13 And the sentence hath gone forth, and the wise men are being slain, and they have sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.
• Isa 19:3 : 3 And emptied out hath been in its midst the spirit of Egypt. And its counsel I swallow up, And they have sought unto the idols, And unto the charmers, And unto those having familiar spirits, And unto the wizards.
• Isa 47:12-14 : 12 Stand, I pray thee, in thy charms, And in the multitude of thy sorceries, In which thou hast laboured from thy youth, It may be thou art able to profit, It may be thou dost terrify! 13 Thou hast been wearied in the multitude of thy counsels, Stand up, I pray thee, and save thee, Let the charmers of the heavens, Those looking on the stars, Those teaching concerning the months, From those things that come on thee! 14 Lo, they have been as stubble! Fire hath burned them, They deliver not themselves from the power of the flame, There is not a coal to warm them, a light to sit before it.
• Dan 2:2-9 : 2 and the king saith to call for scribes, and for enchanters, and for sorcerers, and for Chaldeans, to declare to the king his dreams. And they come in and stand before the king; 3 and the king saith to them, `A dream I have dreamed, and moved is my spirit to know the dream.' 4 And the Chaldeans speak to the king `in' Aramaean, `O king, to the ages live, tell the dream to thy servants, and the interpretation we do shew.' 5 The king hath answered and said to the Chaldeans, `The thing from me is gone; if ye do not cause me to know the dream and its interpretation, pieces ye are made, and your houses are made dunghills; 6 and if the dream and its interpretation ye do shew, gifts, and fee, and great glory ye receive from before me, therefore the dream and its interpretation shew ye me.' 7 They have answered a second time, and are saying, `Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and the interpretation we do shew. 8 The king hath answered and said, `Of a truth I know that time ye are gaining, because that ye have seen that the thing is gone from me, 9 `so' that, if the dream ye do not cause me to know -- one is your sentence, seeing a word lying and corrupt ye have prepared to speak before me, till that the time is changed, therefore the dream tell ye to me, then do I know that its interpretation ye do shew me.' 10 The Chaldeans have answered before the king, and are saying, `There is not a man on the earth who is able to shew the king's matter; therefore, no king, chief, and ruler, hath asked such a thing as this of any scribe, and enchanter, and Chaldean; 11 and the thing that the king is asking `is' precious, and others are there not that do shew it before the king, save the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.'
• Dan 2:21 : 21 And He is changing times and seasons, He is causing kings to pass away, and He is raising up kings; He is giving wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those possessing understanding.
• Dan 2:27-28 : 27 Daniel hath answered before the king and said, `The secret that the king is asking, the wise men, the enchanters, the scribes, the soothsayers, are not able to shew to the king; 28 but there is a God in the heavens, a revealer of secrets, and He hath made known to king Nebuchadnezzar that which `is' to be in the latter end of the days. `Thy dream and the visions of thy head on thy bed are these:
• Dan 4:7-9 : 7 Then coming up are the scribes, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and the dream I have told before them, and its interpretation they are not making known to me. 8 And at last come up before me hath Daniel, whose name `is' Belteshazzar -- according to the name of my god -- and in whom `is' the spirit of the holy gods, and the dream before him I have told: 9 `O Belteshazzar, master of the scribes, as I have known that the spirit of the holy gods `is' in thee, and no secret doth press thee, the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation, tell. 10 As to the visions of my head on my bed, I was looking, and lo, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height `is' great: 11 become great hath the tree, yea, strong, and its height doth reach to the heavens, and its vision to the end of the whole land; 12 its leaves `are' fair, and its budding great, and food for all `is' in it: under it take shade doth the beast of the field, and in its boughs dwell do the birds of the heavens, and of it fed are all flesh. 13 `I was looking, in the visions of my head on my bed, and lo, a sifter, even a holy one, from the heavens is coming down. 14 He is calling mightily, and thus hath said, Cut down the tree, and cut off its branches, shake off its leaves, and scatter its budding, move away let the beast from under it, and the birds from off its branches; 15 but the stump of its roots leave in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field, and with the dew of the heavens is it wet, and with the beasts `is' his portion in the herb of the earth; 16 his heart from man's is changed, and the heart of a beast is given to him, and seven times pass over him; 17 by the decree of the sifters `is' the sentence, and by the saying of the holy ones the requirement, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High is ruler in the kingdom of men, and to whom He willeth He giveth it, and the lowest of men He doth raise up over it. 18 `This dream I have seen, I king Nebuchadnezzar; and thou, O Belteshazzar, the interpretation tell, because that all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to cause me to know the interpretation, and thou `art' able, for the spirit of the holy gods `is' in thee.
• Dan 5:7-8 : 7 Call doth the king mightily, to bring up the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. Answered hath the king, and said to the wise men of Babylon, that, `Any man who doth read this writing, and its interpretation doth shew me, purple he putteth on, and a bracelet of gold `is' on his neck, and third in the kingdom he doth rule.' 8 Then coming up are all the wise men of the king, and they are not able to read the writing, and the interpretation to make known to the king;
• Dan 5:17 : 17 Then hath Daniel answered and said before the king, `Thy gifts be to thyself, and thy fee to another give; nevertheless, the writing I do read to the king, and the interpretation I cause him to know;
• 2 Tim 3:8-9 : 8 and, even as Jannes and Jambres stood against Moses, so also these do stand against the truth, men corrupted in mind, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they shall not advance any further, for their folly shall be manifest to all, as theirs also did become.
• Ps 119:99 : 99 Above all my teachers I have acted wisely. For Thy testimonies `are' my meditation.
• Exod 7:11-12 : 11 And Pharaoh also calleth for wise men, and for sorcerers; and the scribes of Egypt, they also, with their flashings, do so, 12 and they cast down each his rod, and they become monsters, and the rod of Aaron swalloweth their rods;
• 1 Kgs 10:1-3 : 1 And the queen of Sheba is hearing of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, and cometh to try him with enigmas, 2 and she cometh to Jerusalem, with a very great company, camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stone, and she cometh unto Solomon, and speaketh unto him all that hath been with her heart. 3 And Solomon declareth to her all her matters -- there hath not been a thing hid from the king that he hath not declared to her.