Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Daniel 2:46 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 46. 46Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Daniel 2:46 opens this movement with “Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should…”.
Read It With
- Daniel 2:46–49
Read Daniel 2:46 with 2:46–49. Daniel 2:46 opens this movement with “Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should…”. The complete unit establishes this movement: Nebuchadnezzar falls before Daniel, honors Daniel's God as revealer, promotes him, and appoints his companions at Daniel's request.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The successful-courtier ending grants real influence while the next chapter exposes the incompleteness of royal recognition. “Royal Homage, Reward, and Shared Appointment” opens that larger movement. This completes the present movement before the next larger development: Chapter 3 immediately shows royal confession has not ended coerced image worship. Within that movement: Daniel 2:46 opens this movement with “Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should…”.
Follow the Context
- Nebuchadnezzar falls before Daniel, honors Daniel's God as revealer, promotes him, and appoints his companions at Daniel's request.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should…”
In plain language: This wording opens this movement.
Nebuchadnezzar falls before Daniel, honors Daniel's God as revealer, promotes him, and appoints his companions at Daniel's request. Daniel 2:46 opens this movement with “Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should…”.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material lexical, historical, theological, reception, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Daniel 2:46 does not stand alone from Daniel 2:46–49. The homage does not make Daniel divine. Its verse-specific role is: opens this movement with “Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should…”.
What Remains True
Recognition and promotion can be real without proving that a powerful person's character or system is transformed. Daniel 2:46-49 keeps that truth tied to this claim: Nebuchadnezzar falls before Daniel, honors Daniel's God as revealer, promotes him, and appoints his companions at Daniel's request. In this unit: Daniel 2:46 opens this movement with “Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should…”.
How It Can Shape Life
- Receive influence with humility, share credit, and keep testing whether praise is accompanied by changed practice. In Daniel 2:46-49, respond specifically to this movement: Nebuchadnezzar falls before Daniel, honors Daniel's God as revealer, promotes him, and appoints his companions at Daniel's request. For Daniel 2:46 specifically, keep this reviewed contribution in view: opens this movement with “Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should…”. Read it inside 2:46–49; do not convert its wording into an unsupported modern identification.
Teach It Back
Explain Daniel 2:46's role in 2:46–49. Name the ancient setting, quote or paraphrase “Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should…”, state one material uncertainty, and name one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Daniel 2:46-49 — Royal Homage, Reward, and Shared AppointmentSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Daniel 2:46 must be read with this unit-level uncertainty: Readers differ over whether the offering implies worship of Daniel, honor to Daniel's God through him, or court hyperbole. The narrative leaves the response ethically incomplete.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Daniel 2:46-49, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew aramaic text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Daniel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew-Aramaic wording, morphology, language boundary, names, repeated roots, clauses, and lexical controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Dan.xml, 2:46-49; Hebrew 1:1–2:4a and 8:1–12:13, Aramaic 2:4b–7:28
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Daniel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew-Aramaic, textual, historical, translation, chronology, angelic-language, and duration notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Daniel PDF, printed pp. 1645–1648, translation and translator notes on 2:46-49
Open source ↗