Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Daniel 5:17 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 17. 17Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Daniel 5:17 opens this movement with “Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give…”.
Daniel keeps the gifts off himself and indicts a son who knew better
This verse is one part of that explanation in Daniel 5:17-24. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Daniel 5:17–24
Read Daniel 5:17 with 5:17–24. Daniel 5:17 opens this movement with “Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give…”. The complete unit establishes this movement: Daniel refuses ownership of the rewards, retells Nebuchadnezzar's humbling, and charges Belshazzar with knowing yet profaning the vessels.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The writing receives a moral context before a lexical solution: the issue is not ignorance but proud refusal of a known warning. “Daniel Rejects Gifts and Indicts the King” opens that larger movement. This completes the present movement before the next larger development: Daniel reads the three weight-words as numbered rule, weighed failure, and divided kingdom. Within that movement: Daniel 5:17 opens this movement with “Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give…”.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give…”
In plain language: This wording opens this movement.
Daniel refuses ownership of the rewards, retells Nebuchadnezzar's humbling, and charges Belshazzar with knowing yet profaning the vessels. Daniel 5:17 opens this movement with “Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give…”.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material lexical, historical, theological, reception, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Daniel 5:17 does not stand alone from Daniel 5:17–24. Daniel's refusal of gifts does not mean experts must always work without pay. Its verse-specific role is: opens this movement with “Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give…”.
What Remains True
Greater knowledge increases a leader's responsibility to change, especially where sacred contempt and dehumanizing power continue. Daniel 5:17-24 keeps that truth tied to this claim: Daniel refuses ownership of the rewards, retells Nebuchadnezzar's humbling, and charges Belshazzar with knowing yet profaning the vessels. In this unit: Daniel 5:17 opens this movement with “Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give…”.
Teach It Back
Explain Daniel 5:17's role in 5:17–24. Name the ancient setting, quote or paraphrase “Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give…”, state one material uncertainty, and name one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Daniel 5:17-24 — Daniel Rejects Gifts and Indicts the KingSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Daniel 5:17 must be read with this unit-level uncertainty: The tale's historical layers and relationship to chapter 4 are debated. The present text deliberately makes Belshazzar accountable to the lesson he knew.
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 5:17-24, 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, 5:17-24; 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. 1653–1655, translation and translator notes on 5:17-24
Open source ↗