Bible Strands
Daniel 11:8
He will take even their gods captive to Egypt, with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold. For some years he will stay away from the king of the North,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet records a vision detailing a future military campaign against the king of the South. The passage describes a leader rising from a rival lineage who invades a fortress and captures religious artifacts.
The words — נְסִֽכֵי (nesikhei) translates to molten images, and חֶמְדָּתָם (chemdatam) means their desires. These terms specify the exact nature of the captured religious objects.
The thread — The motif of captured idols appears in Jeremiah 43:12, where Nebuchadnezzar takes the gods of Egypt, and in Isaiah 37:19, which notes idols cast into fire. Isaiah 46:1 similarly describes these metal images as burdensome loads carried by beasts, emphasizing their physical weight rather than divine power.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that political conquests directly subdue claimed divine powers. It requires the reader to accept that historical events, not heavenly intervention, determine the fate of idolatrous systems.
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
And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the north.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 37:19 They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
- Isaiah 46:1 Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.
- Jeremiah 43:12 I will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar will burn those temples and take their gods as captives. So he will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself in his garment, and he will depart from there unscathed.
- Genesis 31:30 Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
- Exodus 12:12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
- Numbers 33:4 who were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them; for the LORD had executed judgment against their gods.
- Deuteronomy 12:3 Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.
- Judges 18:24 He replied, “You took the gods I had made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’”
- Isaiah 2:16 against every ship of Tarshish, and against every stately vessel.
- Jeremiah 46:25 The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I am about to punish Amon god of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, Egypt with her gods and kings, and those who trust in Pharaoh.