Bible Strands
Daniel 10:6
His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of polished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Daniel witnesses a supernatural figure during a night vision, directly after describing his linen garments and gold belt. Only Daniel perceives the vision, while his companions experience overwhelming terror and flee.
The words — The Hebrew תַרְשִׁישׁ (tarshish) translates to topaz or beryl, describing the figure's body, while בָרָק (barak) and לַפִּידֵי אֵשׁ (lappidei esh) render his face as lightning and his eyes as flaming torches. These terms establish a sequence of intense luminosity and metallic reflection.
The thread — The text's emphasis on radiant faces and fiery eyes parallels Revelation 19:12, which notes eyes like blazing fire, and Matthew 17:2, which records a face shining like the sun. Revelation 1:13 similarly describes a visionary figure wearing a long robe and golden sash.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to distinguish the visionary's supernatural appearance from ordinary human experience. The concrete physical descriptions directly explain why those who did not see the vision reacted with immediate terror and flight.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.
Cross-references
- Revelation 19:12 He has eyes like blazing fire, and many royal crowns on His head. He has a name written on Him that only He Himself knows.
- Matthew 17:2 There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
- Revelation 1:13 and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe, with a golden sash around His chest.
- Revelation 10:3 Then he cried out in a loud voice like the roar of a lion. And when he cried out, the seven thunders sounded their voices.
- Ezekiel 1:14 The creatures were darting back and forth as quickly as flashes of lightning.
- Ezekiel 1:16 The workmanship of the wheels looked like the gleam of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. Their workmanship looked like a wheel within a wheel.
- Ezekiel 1:24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings like the roar of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
- Ezekiel 10:9 Then I looked and saw four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub. And the wheels gleamed like a beryl stone.
- Revelation 10:1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire.
- Revelation 21:20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.