Daniel 4:1-3

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Daniel 4:1-3

Here is, I. Something of form, which was usual in writs, proclamations, or circular letters, issued by the king, Dan. 4:1. The royal style which Nebuchadnezzar makes use of has nothing in it of pomp or fancy, but is plain, short, and unaffected?Nebuchadnezzar the king. If at other times he made use of great swelling words of vanity in his title, how he laid them all aside; for he was old, he had lately recovered from a distraction which had humbled and mortified him, and was now in the actual... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Daniel 4:1

Nebuchadnezzar the king ,..... This and the two following verses are annexed to the preceding chapter in the Hebrew Bible, and in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; as if the author of the division of the chapters thought that Nebuchadnezzar proposed by this public proclamation to celebrate the praise of the Lord, on account of the wonderful deliverance of the three Jews from the fiery furnace; whereas they are a preface to a narrative of a dream, and an event which concerned... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Daniel 4:2

I thought it good ,.... Or, "fair" F25 שפר "pulchrum", Montanus, Grotius, Gejerus, Michaelis; "decet me", Junius & Tremellius. and beautiful, highly becoming me, what was my duty, and what might be profitable and beneficial to others, and make for the glory of the great God of heaven and earth: to show the signs and wonders the high God hath wrought toward me ; to declare by writing the wonderful things God, who is above all, the most high God, had done unto him, by giving... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Daniel 4:3

How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders !.... They are great, very great, exceeding great; so great that it cannot be said, nor even conceived how great they are, what a display of wisdom, power, and goodness is in them; they are wonderful beyond expression and conception; and so strong and mighty as not to be resisted and made void by all the powers of nature, earth, or hell; and if this may be said of his works of providence, and his miracles of that, how much more of his... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 4:1

Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people - This is a regular decree, and is one of the most ancient on record; and no doubt was copied from the state papers of Babylon. Daniel has preserved it in the original language. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 4:2

I thought it good to show - A part of the decree was a recital of the wonders wrought by the hand of the true God in his kingdom and on his person. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 4:3

How great are his signs! - There are no preternatural signs like his! His wonders - miraculous interferences, are mighty - they surpass all human power. He is the Sovereign of all kings, and his dominion is everlasting; and every generation is a proof of his all-governing influence. These are very fine sentiments, and show how deeply his mind was impressed with the majesty of God. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 4:1

Verse 1 Some join these verses to the end of the third chapter, but there is no reason for this; and it will clearly appear from the context that the edict is here set forth in the king’s name, and other events are inserted. Daniel, therefore, here, speaks in the person of the king; he afterwards narrates what happened to the king, and then returns to his own person. Those who separate these three verses from the context of the fourth chapter, do not seem to have sufficiently considered the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 4:3

Verse 3 In fine, this preface might seem a proof of an important conversion; but we shall directly see how far Nebuchadnezzar was from being entirely purged of his errors. It ought, indeed, to affect us exceedingly to behold the king wrapt up in so many errors, and yet seized with admiration of the Divine virtue, since he cannot express his thoughts, but exclaims, — His signs how mighty! his wonders how powerful! He added, His kingdom is a perpetual kingdom, and his dominion is from age to age... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 4:1

(Aramaic ch. 3:31).— Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. The Septuagint has a different reading here, "The beginning of the letter of Nebuchadnezzar the king to all peoples and tongues dwelling in the whole earth: Peace to you be multiplied." In this reading, the first clause is the heading of all that follows, and the document itself begins with, "Peace to you be multiplied." The absence of the opening... read more

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