Bible Strands
Daniel 2:14
When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, went out to execute the wise men of Babylon, Daniel responded with discretion and tact.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Arioch, the chief of the king's executioners, is leaving to carry out the death decree against the wise men when Daniel approaches him to ask why the king's order is so harsh.
The words — The Hebrew phrase עֵטָא וּטְעֵם ('eta u-te'Em) literally means "counsel and discretion," describing the measured manner of Daniel's reply to the commander.
The thread — Daniel's careful dialogue with a royal guard appears again in Daniel 2:24, while the pattern of seeking out a commander to negotiate a crisis mirrors the appeal in 2 Samuel 20:16.
Why it lands — The text records a factual inquiry into a royal decree before any action is taken, requiring a reader to see that survival in a hostile court depends on asking for clarification rather than assuming the outcome.
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
Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:
Cross-references
- Daniel 2:24 Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon! Bring me before the king, and I will give him the interpretation.”
- Genesis 37:36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
- 2 Samuel 20:16 a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Joab to come here so that I may speak with him.”
- Ecclesiastes 9:13 I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:
- Jeremiah 39:9 Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away to Babylon the remnant of the people who had remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to him.
- Jeremiah 52:12 On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 52:14 And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.