Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Daniel 4:31 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 31. 31While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Daniel 4:31 develops this movement with “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O…”.
Read It With
- Daniel 4:28–33
Read Daniel 4:31 with 4:28–33. Daniel 4:31 develops this movement with “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O…”. The complete unit establishes this movement: A boast over Babylon is interrupted by the sentence, and the king is driven from human society until the specified period passes.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The delay makes the boast morally meaningful and the fulfillment connects self-made imperial glory with loss of humane rule. “Royal Pride Meets the Announced Judgment” opens that larger movement. This completes the present movement before the next larger development: When the period ends, the king lifts his eyes, understanding returns, and he praises heaven's king. Within that movement: Daniel 4:31 develops this movement with “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O…”.
Follow the Context
- A boast over Babylon is interrupted by the sentence, and the king is driven from human society until the specified period passes.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O…”
In plain language: This wording develops this movement.
A boast over Babylon is interrupted by the sentence, and the king is driven from human society until the specified period passes. Daniel 4:31 develops this movement with “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O…”.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material lexical, historical, theological, reception, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Daniel 4:31 does not stand alone from Daniel 4:28–33. Daniel 4:31 does not establish a modern identification, date, guarantee, or command by itself. Its verse-specific role is: develops this movement with “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O…”.
What Remains True
Leadership becomes inhuman when it treats shared labor and public life as the ruler's personal monument. Daniel 4:28-33 keeps that truth tied to this claim: A boast over Babylon is interrupted by the sentence, and the king is driven from human society until the specified period passes. In this unit: Daniel 4:31 develops this movement with “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O…”.
How It Can Shape Life
- Name the people and systems behind achievements, create accountability before applause grows, and protect those harmed by a leader's loss of capacity. In Daniel 4:28-33, respond specifically to this movement: A boast over Babylon is interrupted by the sentence, and the king is driven from human society until the specified period passes. For Daniel 4:31 specifically, keep this reviewed contribution in view: develops this movement with “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O…”. Read it inside 4:28–33; do not convert its wording into an unsupported modern identification.
Teach It Back
Explain Daniel 4:31's role in 4:28–33. Name the ancient setting, quote or paraphrase “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O…”, 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 4:28-33 — Royal Pride Meets the Announced JudgmentSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Daniel 4:31 must be read with this unit-level uncertainty: Readers debate whether a known illness explains the story or whether the animalization is literary. No retrospective diagnosis is secure; the package treats it as narrative imagery.
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 4:28-33, 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, 4:28-33; 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 4:28-33
Open source ↗