Daniel 4:27
And the king answered, and said: Is not this the great Babylon, which I have built to be the seat of the kingdom, by the strength of my power, and in the glory of my excellence?
Open Daniel 4:27 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →In the palace
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Responditque rex, et ait : Nonne hæc est Babylon magna, quam ego ædificavi in domum regni, in robore fortitudinis meæ, et in gloria decoris mei ?
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἀπεκρίθη ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ εἶπεν Οὐχ αὕτη ἐστὶν Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη ἣν ἐγὼ ᾠκοδόμησα εἰς οἶκον βασιλείας, ἐν τῷ κράτει τῆς ἰσχύος μου, εἰς τιμὴν τῆς δόξης μου;
- Hebrew (WLC)
- עָנֵ֤ה מַלְכָּא֙ וְאָמַ֔ר הֲלָ֥א דָא הִ֖יא בָּבֶ֣ל רַבְּתָ֑א דִּֽי אֲנָ֤ה בֱנַיְתַהּ֙ לְבֵ֣ית מַלְכ֔וּ בִּתְקַ֥ף חִסְנִ֖י וְלִיקָ֥ר הַדְרִֽי
Haydock's commentary
Answered his own vain thoughts. (Haydock)
He was admiring the city, (Calmet) which he had greatly enlarged and beautified. (Beros. &c.)
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 Gregory the Great The Book of Pastoral Rule, That for the most part the occupation of government dissipates the solidity of the mind
But after this, elevated by the success of his dominion, and rejoicing in having done great things, he first preferred himself to all in thought, and afterwards, still vain-glorious, said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, and in the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? ( Dan. iv. 30 .) Which utterance of his, as we see, fell openly under the vengeance of the wrath which his hidden elation kindled. For the strict judge first sees invisibly what he afterwards reproves by publicly smiting it. Hence him He turned even into an irrational animal, separated him from human society, changed his mind and joined him to the beasts of the field, that in obviously strict and just judgment he who had esteemed himself great beyond men should lose even his being as a man. …
Aphrahat Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations, Of Wars
16. Now as to the first beast, he said concerning it, that it was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. For the first beast was the kingdom of Babylon, which was like a lion. For thus Jeremiah wrote saying: Israel is a wandering sheep. The lions caused them to wander. First the king of Assyria devoured him. And this last was stronger than he, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon . So Jeremiah called him a lion. And he said: He has the wings of an eagle . For thus it is written that, when Nebuchadnezzar went out to the wilderness with the beasts, he grew hair like (the plumage) of an eagle. And he said: I saw that its wings were plucked away and it stood upright upon its feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it . For first, in the vision of the image, he was compared to gold which is more precious than anything which is used in the world. …