Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Daniel 4:27 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 27. 27Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Daniel's counsel joins turning from sin with righteousness and mercy toward the poor rather than private piety alone.
Read It With
- Daniel 4:19–27
Read Daniel 4:27 with 4:19–27. Daniel's counsel joins turning from sin with righteousness and mercy toward the poor rather than private piety alone. The complete unit establishes this movement: Daniel identifies the king as the tree, announces a period of animal-like humiliation, and urges justice and mercy toward the poor.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The interpretation refuses both flattery and cruelty: Daniel is troubled for the king and connects humility with concrete justice toward oppressed and vulnerable people. “Daniel Interprets and Calls for Justice” opens that larger movement. This completes the present movement before the next larger development: Twelve months later the king boasts over Babylon and the warning is fulfilled. Within that movement: Daniel's counsel joins turning from sin with righteousness and mercy toward the poor rather than private piety alone.
Follow the Context
- Daniel identifies the king as the tree, announces a period of animal-like humiliation, and urges justice and mercy toward the poor.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by…”
In plain language: Daniel's counsel joins turning from sin with righteousness and mercy toward the poor rather than private piety alone.
Daniel identifies the king as the tree, announces a period of animal-like humiliation, and urges justice and mercy toward the poor. Daniel's counsel joins turning from sin with righteousness and mercy toward the poor rather than private piety alone.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material lexical, historical, theological, reception, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Daniel 4:27 does not stand alone from Daniel 4:19–27. Daniel's sympathy does not excuse the king's oppression. Its verse-specific role is: Daniel's counsel joins turning from sin with righteousness and mercy toward the poor rather than private piety alone.
What Remains True
Repentance by powerful people is shown in changed conduct, especially justice and mercy toward those bearing the system's costs. Daniel 4:19-27 keeps that truth tied to this claim: Daniel identifies the king as the tree, announces a period of animal-like humiliation, and urges justice and mercy toward the poor. In this unit: Daniel's counsel joins turning from sin with righteousness and mercy toward the poor rather than private piety alone.
How It Can Shape Life
- Pair truthful warning with a concrete path of repair and refuse to monetize absolution. In Daniel 4:19-27, respond specifically to this movement: Daniel identifies the king as the tree, announces a period of animal-like humiliation, and urges justice and mercy toward the poor. For Daniel 4:27 specifically, keep this reviewed contribution in view: Daniel's counsel joins turning from sin with righteousness and mercy toward the poor rather than private piety alone. Read it inside 4:19–27; do not convert its wording into an unsupported modern identification.
Teach It Back
Explain Daniel 4:27's role in 4:19–27. Name the ancient setting, quote or paraphrase “Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by…”, state one material uncertainty, and name one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Daniel 4:19-27 — Daniel Interprets and Calls for JusticeSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Daniel 4:27 must be read with this unit-level uncertainty: Some translations hear almsgiving as redeeming sins; others hear breaking with sin through righteousness. The package prefers moral reversal and mercy, not purchase of forgiveness.
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 4:19-27, 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, 4:19-27; 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. 1650–1653, translation and translator notes on 4:19-27
Open source ↗