Daniel 5:6

6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

Daniel 5:6 in Other Translations

6 Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

6 Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.

6 and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.

6 he went white as a ghost, scared out of his wits. His legs went limp and his knees knocked.

6 Then the king's countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

6 Then the king turned pale, and his thoughts frightened him. His hip joints became loose, and his knees knocked against each other.

6 his face turned pale, and his thoughts so terrified him that his hip joints shook and his knees knocked together.

6 His face turned pale. He became so afraid that his knees knocked together. His legs couldn't hold him up any longer.

Daniel 5:6 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 5:6

Then the kings countenance changed
Or, "his brightness" {l}; his ruddy countenance, his florid looks, his gay airs; all his jollity and mirth, that appeared in his face, were changed into paleness, sadness, and confusion: and his thoughts troubled him;
what should be the meaning of this; perhaps he might immediately fear it presaged ruin and destruction to him; the sins of his former life might at once come into his thoughts, and those particularly he had now been guilty of; his luxury and intemperance, his idolatry and profanation of the vessels of the sanctuary, which his conscience might accuse him of, and give him great distress and trouble: so that the joints of his loins were loosed;
or, "the girdles of his loins" ^F13; which were loosed or broke, through the agitation he was in; or he was all over in a sweat, so that he was obliged to loose his girdle; or, as persons in great fear and consternation, he was seized with a pain in his back; it opened as it were; nor could he hold his urine; as Grotius and others; see ( Isaiah 45:1 ) , where this seems to be prophesied of: and his knees smote one against another;
as is the case of persons in a great tremor, or under a panic. "Et subito genua intremuere timore".--Ovid.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 (yhwyz) "splendores ejus", Montanus, Vatablus, Michaelis.
F13 (hurx yrjq) "cingula lumborum ejus", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius.

Daniel 5:6 In-Context

4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote.

6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

7 The king summoned the enchanters, astrologers and diviners. Then he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant.

Cross References

• 1. S Job 4:15
• 2. S Daniel 4:5
• 3. S Isaiah 7:2
• 4. S Psalms 22:14; Ezekiel 7:17