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Grammar Analysis: Daniel 7:1

Text

Aramaic: בִּשְׁנַת חֲדָה לְבֵלְאַשַׁצַּר מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל דָּנִיֵּאל חֵלֶם חֲזָה וְחֶזְוֵי רֵאשֵׁהּ עַֽל־מִשְׁכְּבֵהּ בֵּאדַיִן חֶלְמָא כְתַב רֵאשׁ מִלִּן אֲמַֽר׳ KJV: In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, [and] told the sum of the matters.

Word-by-Word Parsing

# Word Lemma Parsing Gloss
1 בִּ ב Prep in
2 שְׁנַת שׁנה Noun.fs.Cst year
3 חֲדָה חד Noun.fs.Abs one
4 לְ ל Prep to
5 בֵלְאַשַׁצַּר בלשׁאצר PropN.ms.Abs Belshazzar
6 מֶלֶךְ מלך Noun.ms.Cst king
7 בָּבֶל בבל PropN.s.Abs Babylon
8 דָּנִיֵּאל דניאל PropN.ms.Abs Daniel
9 חֵלֶם חלם Noun.ms.Abs dream
10 חֲזָה חזה Verb.Peal.Perf.3ms see
11 וְ ו Conj and
12 חֶזְוֵי חזו Noun.mp.Cst vision(s)
13 רֵאשֵׁהּ ראשׁ Noun.ms.Abs.+3ms head + his
14 עַֽל על Prep upon
15 מִשְׁכְּבֵהּ משׁכב Noun.ms.Abs.+3ms bed + his
16 בֵּ ב Prep in
17 אדַיִן אדין Adv then
18 חֶלְמָא חלם Noun.ms (emphatic) the dream
19 כְתַב כתב Verb.Peal.Perf.3ms write
20 רֵאשׁ ראשׁ Noun.ms.Cst head/sum
21 מִלִּן מלה Noun.fp.Abs word(s)
22 אֲמַֽר אמר Verb.Peal.Perf.3ms say
## Clause Structure 
Clause 1 (XQtl): dating + main predication
  [Time]  בִּשְׁנַת חֲדָה לְבֵלְאַשַׁצַּר מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל
  [Subj]  דָּנִיֵּאל
  [Objc]  חֵלֶם
  [Pred]  חֲזָה

Clause 2 (Ellp): verbless additive clause
  [Conj]  וְ
  [Objc]  חֶזְוֵי רֵאשֵׁהּ עַל מִשְׁכְּבֵהּ

Clause 3 (xQt0): writing response
  [Time]  בֵּאדַיִן
  [Objc]  חֶלְמָא
  [Pred]  כְתַב

Clause 4 (xQt0): speaking response
  [Objc]  רֵאשׁ מִלִּין
  [Pred]  אֲמַר

Construct Chains

Construct Absolute Gloss
שְׁנַת (year) חֲדָה (one) year-of-one = "year one" / "the first year"
מֶלֶךְ (king) בָּבֶל (Babylon) king-of-Babylon
חֶזְוֵי (visions) רֵאשֵׁהּ (his head) visions-of-his-head
רֵאשׁ (head/sum) מִלִּין (words) head-of-words = "the sum of the matters"
## Key Grammatical Features

1. חֵלֶם חֲזָה וְחֶזְוֵי -- The Dual Genre Designation (chelem + chezvey)

  • Form: Noun.ms.Abs (חֵלֶם, chelem, "dream") as object of Peal.Perf.3ms (חֲזָה, chaza, "he saw"), immediately followed by conjunctive waw + Noun.mp.Cst (חֶזְוֵי, chezvey, "visions-of") in an elliptical clause.

  • Significance: This is the single most architecturally significant feature of the verse. Daniel 7:1 is the only verse in Daniel that designates its revelatory content with both genre terms simultaneously in the same opening formula: חֵלֶם ("dream") AND חֶזְוֵי ("visions"). The two nouns are not synonymous -- they mark distinct revelatory registers:

  • חֵלֶם (chelem, A2493) -- the dream as experiential event, received during sleep. In Daniel, this word belongs to the Gentile-king-dream register: Nebuchadnezzar statue dream (Dan 2, 9 occurrences), Nebuchadnezzar tree dream (Dan 4, 6 occurrences). Dan 7:1 is the only place where Daniel himself is the dreamer.

  • חֶזְוֵי (chezvey, A2376) -- the visions as discrete visual scenes perceived. This is the Aramaic technical term for prophetic-visionary content, cognate with Hebrew chazon (H2377). Dan 7 uses it heavily (7:1, 2, 7, 13, 15, 20).

The dual designation signals that Dan 7 participates in both genres -- it is a dream like Dan 2 and 4, but it is also a vision like Dan 8, 10-12. This is the grammatical marker of the chapter bridge function between the Aramaic court-tales (Dan 2-6, where revelation comes as chelem to kings) and the Hebrew apocalyptic visions (Dan 8-12, where revelation comes as chazon to Daniel).

2. בִּשְׁנַת חֲדָה לְבֵלְאַשַׁצַּר -- Dating Frame (bishnat + regnal-year dative)

  • Form: Prep + Noun.fs.Cst (שְׁנַת) + Noun.fs.Abs (חֲדָה) + Prep (לְ) + PropN (Belshazzar) + Noun.ms.Cst (מֶלֶךְ) + PropN (Babylon). Aramaic construct-chain with lamed-dative of regnal year.
  • Significance: This is the Daniel signature reduced dating formula -- bishnat X le-Y melek Z -- without the fronted narrative-launcher wayhi that Ezekiel uses (Ezek 1:1; 8:1). The identical frame opens Dan 8:1 (Hebrew), Dan 9:1, and Dan 10:1. The Aramaic uses חֲדָה (chad, "one") for the ordinal "first," whereas Dan 9:1 uses Hebrew אַחַת (achat). This parallel dating formula across the Aramaic-Hebrew boundary is itself a structural seam-marker: the same syntactic mold runs from 7:1 (Aramaic) through 8:1, 9:1, 10:1 (Hebrew).
  • Grammar reference: vision-introduction-formulas -- Function 1 documents this dating frame with elided wayhi
  • Grammar reference: construct-state

3. Clause 2 (Ellp) -- Elliptical Clause as Additive Genre Tag

  • Form: The ETCBC parser tags Clause 2 (וְחֶזְוֵי רֵאשֵׁהּ עַל־מִשְׁכְּבֵהּ) as type Ellp -- an elliptical clause. The conjunction וְ introduces the clause, but there is no predicate verb. The implied verb is supplied from Clause 1 (חֲזָה, "he saw").
  • Significance: The ellipsis creates a grammatical asymmetry between the two genre terms. חֵלֶם is the direct object of an explicit Peal perfect verb (חֲזָה). But חֶזְוֵי appears in a verbless extension clause with only the locative formula רֵאשֵׁהּ עַל־מִשְׁכְּבֵהּ ("of his head upon his bed"). The elliptical structure sets the visions alongside the dream rather than subordinating them to it. Neither term governs the other; they are coordinate designations of the same revelatory event viewed from two angles -- the experiential (dream-on-the-bed) and the perceptual (visions-of-the-head).
  • Parallel: Dan 4:2 (Aramaic 4:5 in some numbering) uses the same paired structure: חֵלֶם חֲזֵית ... וְחֶזְוֵי רֵאשִׁי יְבַהֲלֻנַּנִי ("a dream I saw ... and the visions of my head troubled me"). There too, chelem and chezvey appear in the same verse as coordinate but syntactically distinct terms.

4. בֵּאדַיִן חֶלְמָא כְתַב -- Narrative Connector + Response Verbs

  • Form: Adverb (בֵּאדַיִן, be-edayin, "then/thereupon") + Noun.ms emphatic (חֶלְמָא, "the dream") + Verb.Peal.Perf.3ms (כְתַב, "he wrote"). Followed by a second clause: Noun.ms.Cst (רֵאשׁ, "head/sum") + Noun.fp.Abs (מִלִּין, "words") + Verb.Peal.Perf.3ms (אֲמַר, "he said").
  • Significance: The temporal adverb בֵּאדַיִן ("then") marks a narrative transition from the dream-receipt to the response -- writing and speaking. Two response verbs follow: כְתַב ("he wrote") and אֲמַר ("he said"). Notably, the object of כְתַב is חֶלְמָא ("the dream" -- the emphatic/determined form with final aleph), while the object of אֲמַר is רֵאשׁ מִלִּין ("the sum of the words/matters"). The emphatic-state חֶלְמָא (vs. absolute חֵלֶם in Clause 1) marks the dream as now definite -- the previously introduced dream, now determined. The construct chain רֵאשׁ מִלִּין ("head-of-words") denotes the summary or essential substance of the revelation.
  • Grammar reference: vision-introduction-formulas -- be-edayin documented as Aramaic narrative connector in Frame 3

5. Third-Person Narrative Frame -- The Bilingual Hinge

  • Form: The entire verse uses third-person reference for Daniel: דָּנִיֵּאל (PropN) as subject, חֲזָה (3ms), כְתַב (3ms), אֲמַר (3ms), plus 3ms pronominal suffixes on רֵאשֵׁהּ ("his head") and מִשְׁכְּבֵהּ ("his bed").
  • Significance: Dan 7:1 is a third-person editorial superscription, not Daniel's own first-person report. The first-person voice begins at 7:2 (חָזֵה הֲוֵית "I was seeing"). This mirrors the structure of Dan 2:1, which also uses third-person narrative to introduce the dream before the dialogue shifts to first-person. The function is architectural: 7:1 as superscription frames the vision that follows, telling the reader that what they are about to encounter is simultaneously a dream (genre of Dan 2-4) and a sequence of visions (genre of Dan 8-12), and that Daniel wrote it down and spoke its substance. This superscription is the editorial seam that holds together the Aramaic and Hebrew halves of the book.

Structural Comparison: Dan 7:1 as Bilingual Bridge

The dual genre designation in Dan 7:1 is architecturally unique. A comparison with the chapter-openers on either side of the language boundary reveals the bridge function:

Reference Language Genre Term(s) Dreamer Verb
Dan 2:1 Hebrew (but dream in Aramaic) chalomot (Heb. "dreams") Nebuchadnezzar chalam (Qal.Perf.3ms)
Dan 4:2 Aramaic chelem + chezvey Nebuchadnezzar chazet (Peal.Perf.1s)
Dan 7:1 Aramaic chelem + chezvey Daniel chaza (Peal.Perf.3ms)
Dan 8:1 Hebrew chazon ("vision") Daniel nir'ah (Niphal.Perf.3ms)
Dan 9:1-2 Hebrew (no vision term -- reading of Jeremiah) Daniel --
Dan 10:1 Hebrew (davar, "word" revealed) Daniel --

Dan 7:1 is the only Daniel vision-opener that uses both chelem and chezvey as coordinate genre designations for Daniel's own experience. Dan 4:2 (Nebuchadnezzar's tree dream) pairs the same two words, but for a Gentile king-dreamer. When Daniel appears as seer in the Hebrew chapters (8:1 onward), the genre term is chazon alone -- dream terminology disappears. The grammatical dual-designation in 7:1 thus marks the chapter as belonging to both registers simultaneously.

Dan 8:1 explicitly acknowledges this bridge function by referencing Dan 7 as the prior vision: chazon nir'ah elay ... acharey hannir'ah elay battechillah ("a vision appeared to me ... after the one that appeared to me at the beginning"). The Hebrew chapter reaches back across the language boundary to the Aramaic vision.

Cross-References

Grammar Library

Aramaic Grammar Library

Word Studies

  • A2493-chelem -- canonical word study on the Aramaic "dream" noun (22 occurrences, all in Daniel)
  • A2376-chezev -- canonical word study on the Aramaic "vision" noun (15 tokens / 12 verses, all in Daniel)
  • H2377-chazon -- Hebrew cognate "vision" (used from Dan 8:1 onward)
  • H2372-chazah -- Hebrew cognate verb "to see/behold"

Generated from: hebrew_parser.py --verse "Dan 7:1", --clause "Dan 7:1", --construct "Dan 7:1"; comparative parsing of Dan 2:1, 4:2, 7:28, 8:1; Strong's lexicon lookups H2493, H2376, H2370, H4903. Last updated: 2026-05-11