Daniel 4:28 — Word Study
WLCכֹּ֣לָּא מְּטָ֔א עַל־ נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּ֖ר מַלְכָּֽא׃ פ
BSAKingmelek [ruler, monarch] NebuchadnezzarNᵉbûwkadnetstsar [the king of Babylon, a powerful ruler]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| כֹּ֣לָּא | everything | Noun common both singular determined, particle |
| מְּטָ֔א | it came | Verb, Qal, perfect third person masculine singular |
| עַל־ | on | Preposition |
| נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּ֖ר | Nebuchadnezzar | Noun proper masculine |
| מַלְכָּֽא׃ פ | king the | Noun common both singular determined, particle |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. |
| KJV | ¶ All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. |
| ASV | All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. |
| YLT | 'All — hath come on Nebuchadnezzar the king. |
| WEB | All this came on the King Nebuchadnezzar. |
| BBE | All this came to King Nebuchadnezzar. |
Where they part company is מְּטָא — see How Translations Differ.
The structure is straightforward, with one main clause and a prepositional phrase clarifying the subject of the action.
4 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Trapp, Barnes & more — read them ›
clause
verbא
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Daniel 4:28
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Events Concerning Nebuchadnezzargenerated
Daniel 4:28 summarizes the fulfillment of the warning given to King Nebuchadnezzar regarding his pride and the consequences that would follow. This verse serves as a pivotal moment in the narrative, showing that the king's fate is tied to his actions and the divine message he received. The surrounding verses highlight the importance of humility and the dangers of arrogance, as seen in Daniel 4:27 and Daniel 4:29.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Numbers 23:19 | God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill? |
| 2 | Proverbs 10:24 | What the wicked man dreads will overtake him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. |
| 3 | Zechariah 1:6 | But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’” |
| 4 | Matthew 24:35 | Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 4 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — כֹּלָּא, Ko.la'generated
The word כֹּלָּא (Ko.la') means 'everything' or 'all.' It is a noun that signifies totality or completeness, often used in contexts that emphasize God's sovereignty over all things. In this verse, it indicates that every event mentioned has come to pass.
This word is frequently found in the Hebrew Bible, illustrating the comprehensive nature of God's actions and decrees. Its parsing as a noun common both singular determined suggests that it refers to a specific set of events, in this case, those affecting King Nebuchadnezzar.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, so the BSB is the wording every comparison below is made against.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The finite verb מְּטָא (it came) governs the entire verse, indicating the occurrence of the events. The structure is straightforward, with a noun phrase as the subject and a prepositional phrase indicating the recipient of the events.
The simplicity of the structure emphasizes the directness of the statement: all these events came to pass upon King Nebuchadnezzar, highlighting the focus on the king's experience.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates כֹּלָּא as λόγου (logou), which means 'of the word' or 'of the matter.' This choice narrows the focus from the totality of events to the specific word or decree that has been fulfilled.
This shift in focus suggests an interpretive layer, where the events are seen as a direct result of a divine proclamation, emphasizing the authority of the message delivered to Nebuchadnezzar.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Daniel 4:28 tells us that all the events that were foretold happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. This verse highlights the fulfillment of the warning given to him, emphasizing the consequences of pride and the importance of humility.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
The events refer to the fulfillment of the warning given to Nebuchadnezzar about his pride and the consequences that would follow, as detailed in the preceding verses.
Nebuchadnezzar is significant as a powerful ruler of Babylon who captured Jerusalem and played a crucial role in the history of the Israelites.
This verse serves as a reminder of the consequences of pride and the importance of heeding warnings about one's behavior.
The verse underscores the theme of God's sovereignty over earthly kingdoms and the importance of humility before God, which is a recurring message throughout the book of Daniel.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- In what ways have I seen pride lead to consequences in my own life or in the lives of others?
- How can I apply the lessons from Nebuchadnezzar's story to my own behavior and attitudes?
- What steps can I take to ensure that I remain humble and aware of my limitations?
- How does recognizing God's sovereignty over my life change the way I approach challenges?
Commentators on this verse — 4 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Daniel 4:28 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAll this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. All that was signified in the dream, his madness, the removal of him from the administration of government, and the brutal life he lived for seven years;
Read John Gill on Daniel 4 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAll this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. No JFB commentary on this verse.
Read Robert Jamieson on Daniel 4 →John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New TestamentsDaniel 4:28 All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.Ver. 28. All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.] Because he repented not, or not thoroughly, as he had been advised, being left of God to his own heart. There is an infallibility in the curses as well as in the promises; they will surely light.
Read John Trapp on Daniel 4 →Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the BibleAll this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar - That is, the threatened judgment came upon him in the form in which it was predicted.
Read Albert Barnes on Daniel 4 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.
All this came on the King Nebuchadnezzar.
All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.
Now all of this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.
Tyndale line
¶ All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
While the worde was in the Kings mouth, a voyce came downe from heauen, saying, O King Nebuchad-nezzar, to thee be it spoken, Thy kingdome is departed from thee,
Strictly literal
All this came upon king Nebuchadnezzar.
'All — hath come on Nebuchadnezzar the king.
All—has come on Nebuchadnezzar the king.
(4:25) All this came over king Nebuchadnezzar.
All these things happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon,
From the Latin
And while the word was yet in the king’s mouth, a voice came down from heaven: To thee, O king Nabuchodonosor, it is said: Thy kingdom shall pass from thee,
Simplified
(However, all this did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar.
All this came to King Nebuchadnezzar.
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text reads כֹּ֣לָּא מְּטָ֔א עַל־ נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּ֖ר מַלְכָּֽא׃ פ, and the Septuagint provides a different structure, with only one word matched, indicating that the translation process involved significant interpretive choices.
כֹּ֣לָּא מְּטָ֔א עַל־ נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּ֖ר מַלְכָּֽא׃ פ
1 of the 5 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Daniel 4:28
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
כֹּל (kol) means 'all' or 'the whole.' It encompasses meanings such as every, any, and none. The term is used in various contexts throughout the Old Testament, indicating totality or completeness.
כֹּל, כָּל־ n.m. the whole, all
base
H3606 כֹּל, כָּל־
3606 kol kole
(Aramaic) corresponding to 3605:--all, any, + (forasmuch) as,
+ be-(for this) cause, every, + no (manner, -ne), + there
(where)-fore, + though, what (where, who)-soever, (the) whole.
see HEBREW for 03605
כֹּל (kol) — all.
1) all, whole, the whole
1a) the whole of, all
1b) every, any, none
ANcbsd/Ta — Noun common both singular determined · particleANcbsd/Ta
מְטָא (mta') means to reach or attain. It covers the ideas of coming upon, extending, or arriving. The word is used in an intransitive sense in Aramaic, suggesting a sense of presence or occurrence. There are no significant disagreements among the lexicons regarding its meanings.
מְטָא, מְטָה vb. reach, attain
base
H4291 מְטָא, מְטָה
4291 mta' met-aw'
(Aramaic) or mtah (Aramaic) {met-aw'}; apparently
corresponding to 4672 in the intransitive sense of being found
present; to arrive, extend or happen:--come, reach.
see HEBREW for 04672
מְטָא (me.ta) — to reach.
1) to reach, come upon, attain
1a) (P'al)
1a1) to reach, come to
1a2) to reach, extend
1a3) to come upon
AVqp3ms — Verb · Qal · perfect third person masculine singularAVqp3ms
עַל (al) is a preposition meaning 'upon,' 'over,' or 'against.' It covers a range of uses, including direction, comparison, and causation. The entries indicate it can express relationships concerning location, purpose, or authority. There is a note that it corresponds to the Aramaic term related to another Hebrew word, עַל (H5921), but no significant disagreement among lexicons is noted.
עַל prep. upon, over, on account of, above, to, against
base
H5922 עַל
5922 `al al
(Aramaic) corresponding to 5921:--about, against,
concerning, for, (there-)fore, from, in, X more, of, (there-,
up-)on, (in-)to, + why with.
see HEBREW for 05921
עַל (al) — since.
1) upon, over, on account of, above, to, against
1a) upon, over, on account of, regarding, concerning, on behalf of
1b) over (with verbs of ruling)
1c) above, beyond (in comparison)
1d) to, against (of direction)
AR — PrepositionAR
On
Light; the sun, (Gen. 41:45, 50), the great seat of sun-worship, called also Bethshemesh (Jer. 43:13) and Aven (Ezek. 30:17), stood on the east bank of the Nile, a few miles north of Memphis, and near Cairo, in the north-east. The Vulgate and the LXX. Versions have “Heliopolis” (“city of the sun”) instead of On in Genesis and of Aven in Ezekiel. The “city of destruction” Isaiah speaks of (19:18, marg. “of Heres;” Heb. ‘Ir-ha-heres, which some MSS. read Ir-ha-heres, i.e., “city of the sun”) may be the name given to On, the prophecy being that the time will come when that city which was known as the “city of the sun-god” shall become the “city of destruction” of the sun-god, i.e., when idolatry shall cease, and the worship…
(abode or city of the sun), a town of lower Egypt, called BETH-SHEMESH in (Jeremiah 43:13) On is better known under its Greek name Heliopolis. It was situated on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, just below the point of the Delta, and about twenty miles northeast of Memphis. The chief object of worship at Heliopolis was the sun, whose temple, described by Strabo, is now only represented by the single beautiful obelisk, of red granite so feet 2 inches high above the pedestal which has stood for more than 4000 years, having been erected by Usirtesen, the second king of the twelfth dynasty. Heliopolis was anciently famous for its learning, and Eudoxus and Plato studied under its priests. The first mention of this place in the Bible is in the history of Joseph, to whom we read Pharaoh gave "to wife Asenath the daughter…
See HELIOPOLIS.
pain; force; iniquity
נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר (Nbuwkadnetstsar) refers to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon known for capturing Jerusalem and exiling the people of Judah. The name is of Aramaic origin and translates to "may Nebo protect the crown." He is first mentioned in 2 Kings 24:1 and is noted as the father of Belshazzar.
נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר 31 n.pr.m.
base
H5020 נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר
5020 Nbuwkadnetstsar neb-oo-kad-nets-tsar'
(Aramaic) corresponding to 5019:--Nebuchadnezzar.
see HEBREW for 05019
נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר, נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר (ne.vu.khad.nets.tsar) — Nebuchadnezzar.
A man living at the time of Divided Monarchy, first mentioned at 2Ki.24.1;
father of: Belshazzar (H1112)
Aramaic of ne.vu.khad.nets.tsar (נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר, נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר "Nebuchadnezzar" H5019)
§ Nebuchadnezzar = "may Nebo protect the crown"
the great king of Babylon who captured Jerusalem and carried Judah captive
Adj — Noun proper masculineANpm
Nebuchadnezzar
In the Babylonian orthography Nabu-kudur-uzur, which means “Nebo, protect the crown!” or the “frontiers.” In an inscription he styles himself “Nebo’s favourite.” He was the son and successor of Nabopolassar, who delivered Babylon from its dependence on Assyria and laid Nineveh in ruins. He was the greatest and most powerful of all the Babylonian kings. He married the daughter of Cyaxares, and thus the Median and Babylonian dynasties were united.
Necho II., the king of Egypt, gained a victory over the Assyrians at Carchemish. (See JOSIAH; MEGIDDO.) This secured to Egypt the possession of the Syrian provinces of Assyria, including Palestine. The remaining provinces of the Assyrian empire were divided between Babylonia and Media. But Nabopolassar was ambitious of reconquering from Necho the western provinces of Syria, and for this purpose he sent his son with a…
Called in Jeremiah Nebuchadnezzar, the son and successor of Nabopolassar, succeeded to the kingdom of Chaldea about 600 B. C. He had been some time before associated in the kingdom, and sent to recover Carchemish, which had been wrested from the empire by Necho king of Egypt. Having been successful, he marched against the governor of Phoenicia, and Jehoiakim king of Judah, tributary of Necho king of Egypt. He took Jehoiakim, and put him in chains to carry him captive to Babylon; but afterwards he left him in Judea, on condition of his paying a large annual tribute. He took away several persons from Jerusalem; among others, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, all of the royal family, whom the king of Babylon caused to be carefully educated in the language and learning of the Chaldeans, that they might be employed at court, 2Ki…
Nebuchadrezzar, tears and groans of judgment
→ Also called NEBUCHADREZZAR
→ King of Babylon Jer 21:2
→ Empire of
→ See BABYLON
→ His administration Da 1; 2; 3; 4
→ Conquests
Of Jerusalem 2Ki 24; 25; 1Ch 6:15; 2Ch 36:5-21; Ezr 1:7; Jer 39
מֶ֫לֶךְ (melek) means 'king' in Hebrew and is also noted in Aramaic. The entries confirm its singular meaning related to royalty, with no significant disagreement among the lexicons.
מֶ֫לֶךְ 178 n.m. king
base
H4430 מֶ֫לֶךְ
4430 melek meh'-lek
(Aramaic) corresponding to 4428; a king:--king, royal.
see HEBREW for 04428
מֶ֫לֶךְ (me.lekh) — king.
king
Aramaic of me.lekh (מֶ֫לֶךְ "king" H4428)
§ 1) king
Adj | Art — Noun common both singular determined · particleANcbsd/Ta
King
Is in Scripture very generally used to denote one invested with authority, whether extensive or limited. There were thirty-one kings in Canaan (Josh. 12:9, 24), whom Joshua subdued. Adonibezek subdued seventy kings (Judg. 1:7). In the New Testament the Roman emperor is spoken of as a king (1 Pet. 2:13, 17); and Herod Antipas, who was only a tetrarch, is also called a king (Matt. 14:9; Mark 6:22).
This title is applied to God (1 Tim. 1:17), and to Christ, the Son of God (1 Tim. 6:15, 16;
"a chief ruler, one invested with supreme authority over a nation, tribe or country." --Webster. In the Bible the word does not necessarily imply great power or great extent of country. Many persons are called kings whom we should rather call chiefs or leaders. The word is applied in the Bible to God as the sovereign and ruler of the universe, and to Christ the Son of God as the head and governor of the Church. The Hebrews were ruled by a king during a period of about 500 years previous to the destruction of Jerusalem, B.C. 586. The immediate occasion of the substitution of a regal form of government for that of judges seems to have been the siege of Jabesh-gilead by Nahash king of the Ammonites. (1 Samuel 11:1; 12:12) The conviction seems to have forced itself on the Israelites that they could not resist their formidable neighbor…