Dominion (abstractly or concretely)
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The Aramaic noun malkû names royal rule, kingship, a reign, a realm, or the dominion exercised within it. Daniel uses the same word family for successive human kingdoms, Nebuchadnezzar’s sovereignty, violent empires, the Most High’s rule, and the everlasting kingdom given to the Son of Man and the holy people.
Reader summary
Full entry for מַלְכוּ (H4437) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Aramaic noun malkû names royal rule, kingship, a reign, a realm, or the dominion exercised within it. Daniel uses the same word family for successive human kingdoms, Nebuchadnezzar’s sovereignty, violent empires, the Most High’s rule, and the everlasting kingdom given to the Son of Man and the holy people.
The BSB source-word alignment has 57 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include kingdom (8), the kingdom (5), over the kingdom (4), His kingdom (3), in the kingdom (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Ezra 4:24. Its strongest book concentrations include Daniel (53), Ezra (4).
The Aramaic noun malkû names royal rule, kingship, a reign, a realm, or the dominion exercised within it. Daniel uses the same word family for successive human kingdoms, Nebuchadnezzar’s sovereignty, violent empires, the Most High’s rule, and the everlasting kingdom given to the Son of Man and the holy people. That range prevents a simple equation between power and goodness.
Human kingdoms may receive limited authority, administer a realm, or become beastlike systems that devour and crush. Their rule is temporary and answerable to the God of heaven. By contrast, God’s kingdom is not destroyed, and the Son of Man’s kingship does not pass away. The word can describe both the sphere of rule and the exercise of sovereignty, so readers should attend to the ruler, duration, character, and object of dominion in each passage.
Faithful teaching must neither worship human power nor deny that governments exercise real, limited authority.
Malkû traces royal authority from temporary and sometimes violent human kingdoms to the Most High’s everlasting rule and the enduring kingship given to the Son of Man.
You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength, and glory.
Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that his sovereignty, power, strength, and glory were given by the God of heaven.
In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever.
The God of heaven establishes an indestructible kingdom that outlasts and brings every rival kingdom to an end.
This decision is the decree of the watchers, the verdict declared by the holy ones, so that the living will know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes, setting over it the lowliest of men.’
The decree aims to teach the living that the Most High rules human kingdoms and assigns their rulers.
And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
The Son of Man receives dominion, glory, and kingship whose universal service and permanence contrast with passing beastly empires.
This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it.
The fourth kingdom is interpreted as a distinct earthly power whose devouring and crushing conduct exposes dominion’s violent misuse.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Abstract kingly authority exercised over a realm; sovereignty as both the right to rule and its concrete expression.
Abstract kingly authority exercised over a realm; sovereignty as both the right to rule and its concrete expression.
dominion (abstractly or concretely) BDB: royalty Usage: kingdom, kingly, realm, reign.
מַלְכוּ is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Malkû gives Daniel one vocabulary for radically different dominions. Nebuchadnezzar possesses real sovereignty, yet Daniel says it was given by the God of heaven. The king must therefore learn that his rule is neither self-created nor ultimate. The visions then depict kingdoms whose strength becomes predatory, crushing peoples like beasts. Against them stands the kingdom God establishes, the kingship given to one like a Son of Man, and the enduring rule shared with the holy people.
The lexical continuity sharpens the theological contrast: not every malkû has the same origin, character, duration, or end. Human authority can be real while remaining temporary, derivative, and judged. God’s kingdom is not merely a larger instance of human empire, because its permanence and righteous judgment expose the limits of every earthly realm. Teaching should foster sober civic responsibility without nationalism, fatalism, or worship of power.
Dan.7.14
Malkû is an Aramaic feminine noun used throughout the Aramaic portions of Daniel and Ezra. Depending on context, it may denote sovereignty, kingship, a reign, a kingdom as political order, or the realm governed by a king.
Jesus repeatedly announces the kingdom of God and identifies himself with Daniel’s Son of Man imagery. Revelation likewise portrays kingdoms and beastly powers as temporary before the everlasting reign of God and his Christ. These connections deepen Daniel’s contrast without identifying any one present nation as the kingdom of God.