Daniel 4:5
Till their colleague Daniel came in before me, whose name is Baltassar, according to the name of my god, who hath in him the spirit of the holy gods: and I told the dream before him.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- donec collega ingressus est in conspectu meo Daniel, cui nomen Baltassar secundum nomen dei mei, qui habet spiritum deorum sanctorum in semetipso : et somnium coram ipso locutus sum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἕως ἦλθεν Δανιήλ, οὗ τὸ ὄνομα Βαλτασὰρ κατὰ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ μου, ὃς πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἅγιον ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχει. ᾧ εἶπα
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְעַ֣ד אָחֳרֵ֡ין עַל֩ קָֽדָמַ֨י דָּנִיֵּ֜אל דִּֽי שְׁמֵ֤הּ בֵּלְטְשַׁאצַּר֙ כְּשֻׁ֣ם אֱלָהִ֔י וְדִ֛י רֽוּחַ אֱלָהִ֥ין קַדִּישִׁ֖ין בֵּ֑הּ וְחֶלְמָ֖א קָֽדָמ֥וֹהִי אַמְרֵֽת
Haydock's commentary
Colleague. Chaldean also, "another, or afterwards, (Haydock) or at last." (Calmet)
My god. He says this, because the name of Baltassar, or Belteshazzar, is derived from the name of Bel, the chief god of the Babylonians. (Challoner)
Gods. He speaks conformably to his false opinion; (St. Jerome) or, being instructed by Daniel, he testifies that the Holy Spirit enlightens the prophet. (Theod.) Greek has "god," which St. Jerome disapproves; though the plural is often used for the true God. Reason evinces that only the Deity can disclose the secrets of futurity, Genesis xli. 38. (Calmet)
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
Origen Origen De Principiis, Chapter III
2. Now, what the Holy Spirit is, we are taught in many passages of Scripture, as by David in the fifty-first Psalm , when he says, “And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me;” and by Daniel, where it is said, “The Holy Spirit which is in thee.” And in the New Testament we have abundant testimonies, as when the Holy Spirit is described as having descended upon Christ, and when the Lord breathed upon His apostles after His resurrection, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit;” and the saying of the angel to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon thee;” the declaration by Paul, that no one can call Jesus Lord, save by the Holy Spirit. In the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit was given by the imposition of the apostles’ hands in baptism. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 11.20-22
And what [of this], that he called him “Belteshazzar, the name of” his own “god”? Thus [it seems] they accounted their gods to be nothing wonderful, when he called even the captive thus; he who commands all men to worship the image, manifold and of various colors, and who adores the dragon.
St Basil De Spiritu Sancto, That the word “in,” in as many senses as it bears, is understood of the Spirit
63. In relation to the originate, then, the Spirit is said to be in them “in divers portions and in divers manners,” while in relation to the Father and the Son it is more consistent with true religion to assert Him not to be in but to be with . For the grace flowing from Him when He dwells in those that are worthy, and carries out His own operations, is well described as existing in those that are able to receive Him. On the other hand His essential existence before the ages, and His ceaseless abiding with Son and Father, cannot be contemplated without requiring titles expressive of eternal conjunction. For absolute and real co-existence is predicated in the case of things which are mutually inseparable. …