Daniel 10: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, Daniel receives a true message about a great struggle. After three weeks of mourning, he is standing by the Tigris River when he sees a man dressed in linen whose appearance leaves him without strength; the men with him flee. The figure tells Daniel that his prayers were heard from the first day, that the prince of Persia opposed him for twenty-one days until Michael came to help, and that he has come to explain what will happen to Daniel's people in the days to come. He strengthens Daniel, says he must return to fight the prince of Persia and then face the prince of Greece, and says only Michael stands with him.

Claim by Claim

1. 10:1
   • In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel.
   • Daniel was also called Belteshazzar.
   • The message was true.
   • The message concerned a great conflict or warfare; the term can also be read as a long appointed time of hard service.
   • Daniel understood the message.
   • Understanding of the message came to him in a vision.
2. 10:2
   • Daniel says that in those days he was mourning for three full weeks.
3. 10:3
   • Daniel ate no choice or pleasant food.
   • No meat or wine entered his mouth.
   • He did not anoint himself with oil.
   • This lasted until the three full weeks were completed.
4. 10:4
   • It was the twenty-fourth day of the first month.
   • Daniel was beside the great river, which is the Tigris.
5. 10:5
   • Daniel lifted up his eyes and looked.
   • He saw a certain man clothed in linen.
   • The man's waist was girded with fine gold of Uphaz.
6. 10:6
   • The man's body was like beryl.
   • His face was like the appearance of lightning.
   • His eyes were like torches of fire.
   • His arms and his feet were like the gleam of polished bronze.
   • The sound of his words was like the sound of a multitude.
7. 10:7
   • Daniel alone saw the vision.
   • The men who were with him did not see the vision.
   • A great terror fell upon those men.
   • The men fled to hide themselves.
8. 10:8
   • Daniel was left alone.
   • Daniel saw this great vision.
   • No strength remained in Daniel.
   • Daniel's healthy appearance was turned in him to ruin.
   • Daniel retained no strength.
9. 10:9
   • Daniel heard the sound of the man's words.
   • When Daniel heard the sound of his words, he fell into a deep sleep on his face.
   • Daniel's face was toward the ground.
10. 10:10
    • A hand touched Daniel.
    • The hand set him shaking upon his knees and the palms of his hands.
11. 10:11
    • The man said to Daniel that Daniel is a man greatly treasured.
    • The man told Daniel to understand the words he was speaking to him.
    • The man told Daniel to stand upright.
    • The man said he had now been sent to Daniel.
    • When the man had spoken this word, Daniel stood trembling.
12. 10:12
    • The man told Daniel not to fear.
    • The man said that from the first day Daniel set his heart to understand and to humble himself before his God, Daniel's words were heard.
    • The man said he had come because of Daniel's words.
13. 10:13
    • The prince of the kingdom of Persia stood against the man for twenty-one days.
    • Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help him.
    • The man said he was left there beside the kings of Persia.
14. 10:14
    • The man said he had come to make Daniel understand what will happen to Daniel's people in the latter days.
    • The man said the vision concerns days still to come.
15. 10:15
    • While the man was speaking these words to Daniel, Daniel set his face toward the ground.
    • Daniel became unable to speak.
16. 10:16
    • One in the likeness of the sons of men touched Daniel's lips.
    • Daniel opened his mouth and spoke.
    • Daniel addressed the one standing before him as his lord.
    • Daniel said that because of the vision his anguish had come upon him.
    • Daniel said he retained no strength.
17. 10:17
    • Daniel asked how the servant of this his lord could speak with this his lord.
    • Daniel said that from now on no strength remained in him.
    • Daniel said no breath was left in him.
18. 10:18
    • One like the appearance of a man touched Daniel again.
    • He strengthened Daniel.
19. 10:19
    • He told Daniel not to fear, calling him a man greatly treasured.
    • He said peace be to Daniel.
    • He told Daniel to be strong, and again to be strong.
    • When he had spoken to Daniel, Daniel was strengthened.
    • Daniel said, Let my lord speak.
    • Daniel said his lord had strengthened him.
20. 10:20
    • He asked Daniel whether he knew why he had come to him.
    • He said he would now return to fight with the prince of Persia.
    • He said that when he goes forth, the prince of Greece will come.
21. 10:21
    • He said he would tell Daniel what is inscribed in the writing of truth.
    • He said no one holds strongly with him against these except Michael, Daniel's prince.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

10:1

Cyrus was the Persian king who conquered Babylon in 539 BC and allowed exiled Jews to return home; his third year would be about 536 BC. Belteshazzar was the Babylonian name given to Daniel when he was taken into royal service (Daniel 1:7). The King James phrase "the time appointed was long" translates a Hebrew word that can mean either a long stretch of service or a great conflict; translators are divided, which is why the plain rendering here says "a great struggle."

10:2

The Hebrew reads literally "three weeks of days": that is, ordinary seven-day weeks, twenty-one days. The wording is unusually specific, and readers have long taken it as marking these off from the "weeks" of Daniel 9, which are counted in years.

10:3

Rubbing the body with olive oil was ordinary daily grooming in that climate, like washing or combing hair. Going without it, along with plain food and no meat or wine, was the recognized outward sign that a person was in mourning.

10:4

The first month is Nisan, falling in March–April. The Passover and the week of Unleavened Bread fall on the fourteenth through the twenty-first of that month, so Daniel's three weeks of mourning covered the festival season. The King James calls the river "Hiddekel," which is simply the Hebrew name for the Tigris.

10:5

Linen, rather than wool, was the fabric of priestly and ceremonial dress, and in visions it marks a figure as belonging to the heavenly court. Uphaz is a place name that appears only here and in Jeremiah 10:9; its location is unknown, and some ancient copies read "Ophir," a region famous for the finest gold.

10:6

The stone named here is "tarshish" in Hebrew, some yellow or gold-green gem, identified variously as beryl, topaz or chrysolite; nobody now knows exactly which. "Colour" in the King James means appearance or gleam, not hue.

10:8

"My comeliness was turned in me into corruption" is King James English for a change in appearance: the healthy look drained out of his face and he went the color of a corpse.

10:11

The Hebrew behind "greatly beloved" is literally "a man of preciousness" or "treasured things", someone held as valuable. The same phrase is used of Daniel in 9:23 and again in 10:19.

10:12

"Chasten thyself" here does not mean punish; it renders a Hebrew verb meaning to humble or abase oneself, which in practice meant fasting and mourning of the kind described in verse 3.

10:13

"Prince" translates the Hebrew *sar*, a commander or chief officer. In this chapter the word is used of unseen figures standing behind particular nations (a prince of Persia, later a prince of Greece) set against Michael, called the prince of Daniel's own people. The last clause is ambiguous in the Hebrew and can be read either as "I was left there with the kings of Persia" or "I was no longer needed there."

10:14

"The latter days" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning simply "the after-part of the days", the later time, whether that means the distant future or the final period of history. The phrase itself does not settle which.

10:15

"Dumb" in 1611 English means unable to speak. It carries no suggestion of stupidity.

10:16

"One like the similitude of the sons of men" is King James wording for a figure shaped like a human being. "Sons of men" is a Hebrew idiom simply meaning human beings.

10:17

"Straightway" means immediately. "Breath" here is the ordinary word for the air in one's lungs: he is saying he cannot even get his wind, not making a statement about his soul.

10:19

"Peace be unto thee" renders the Hebrew greeting shalom, which means far more than the absence of trouble; it covers wholeness, safety and wellbeing. It was and still is an ordinary greeting, used here to calm a terrified man.

10:20

"Grecia" is the King James spelling of Greece. In Daniel's day Greece was a distant collection of city-states on the far edge of the Persian empire, not yet the power that Alexander would make it two centuries later.

10:21

"The scripture of truth" means a written record, a book or register kept in the heavenly court, in which what is to happen is already set down. "None that holdeth with me" is old English for "no one takes my side" or "stands with me."