Daniel 2:18
To the end that they should ask mercy at the face of the God of heaven concerning this secret, and that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Open Daniel 2:18 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- ut quærerent misericordiam a facie Dei cæli super sacramento isto, et non perirent Daniel et socii ejus cum ceteris sapientibus Babylonis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ οἰκτειρμοὺς ἐζήτουν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὑπὲρ τοῦ μυστηρίου τούτου, ὅπως ἂν μὴ ἀπόλωνται Δανιὴλ καὶ οἱ φίλοι αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἐπιλοίπων σοφῶν Βαβυλῶνος.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְרַחֲמִ֗ין לְמִבְעֵא֙ מִן קֳדָם֙ אֱלָ֣הּ שְׁמַיָּ֔א עַל רָזָ֖ה דְּנָ֑ה דִּ֣י לָ֤א יְהֹֽבְדוּן֙ דָּנִיֵּ֣אל וְחַבְר֔וֹהִי עִם שְׁאָ֖ר חַכִּימֵ֥י בָבֶֽל
Haydock's commentary
Secret. Literally, "sacrament." Greek, "mystery," which seems to be derived from (Calmet) mosthor, "a secret." (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Matthew I. 17
For it was not for rewards and recompenses that they did what they did, but out of love alone; and yet they were in captivity too, and in slavery, and had enjoyed no good thing. Yea, they had lost their country, and their freedom, and all their possessions. For tell me not of their honors in the king’s courts, for holy and righteous as they were, they would have chosen ten thousand times rather to have been beggars at home, and to have been partakers of the blessings in the temple. “For I had rather,” it is said, “be an outcastin the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of sinners.” And “one day in thy courts is better than thousands.” They would have chosen then ten thousand times rather to be outcasts at home, than kings in Babylon. And this is manifest, from what they declare even in the furnace, grieving at their continuance in that country. …
St John Chrysostom Homilies on Second Corinthians, Homily V
[5.] And withal observe heedfully one thing more, in praying to say none of those things that provoke thy Master; neither draw near [to pray] against enemies. For if to have enemies be a reproach, consider how great the evil to pray against them. For need is that thou defend thyself and show why thou hast enemies: but thou even accusest them. And what forgiveness shalt thou obtain, when thou both revilest, and at such a time when thyself needest much mercy. For thou drewest near to supplicate for thine own sins: make not mention then of those of others, lest thou recall the memory of thine own. For if thou say, ‘Smite mine enemy,’ thou hast stopped thy mouth, thou hast cut off boldness from thy tongue; first, indeed, because thou hast angered the Judge at once in beginning; next, because thou asketh things at variance with the character of thy prayer. …