Daniel 4:31

31 While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from the sky, [saying], O king Nevukhadnetztzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from you:

Daniel 4:31 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 4:31

While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice
from heaven
Before the king had done speaking in the above boasting manner, an articulate voice from heaven was heard by him, and all about him, formed by the angels, and much like what the Jews call Bath Kol; see ( Acts 12:21-23 ) , so Abydenus ^F7, in the account he gives of Nebuchadnezzar's oration to the people, relates, that when the king had spoke it, (paracrhma hfanisto) , immediately he disappeared:

saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is
departed from thee;
that is, the administration of it; for he was not deposed, or declared to be no longer king; his office was not taken away from him, and another king set upon the throne; only the administration was taken into other hands, either of his wife or son, or his nobles; he being unfit for it, till such time as his reason returned to him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 41. p. 457.)

Daniel 4:31 In-Context

29 At the end of twelve months he was walking in the royal palace of Bavel.

30 The king spoke and said, Is not this great Bavel, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?

31 While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from the sky, [saying], O king Nevukhadnetztzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from you:

32 and you shall be driven from men; and they dwelling shall be with the animals of the field; you shall be made to eat grass as oxen; and seven times shall pass over you; until you know that Ha`Elyon rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whoever he will.

33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled on Nevukhadnetztzar: and he was driven from men, and ate grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky, until his hair was grown like eagles' [feathers], and his nails like birds' [claws].