StrongerBible

sholtan

שׇׁלְטָן

AramaicH7985“dominion, sovereignty, ...”

Appears 14 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Dan 4:3(3:33)Dan 4:22(19)Dan 4:34(31) (2×)Dan 6:26(27) (2×)Dan 7:6Dan 7:12Dan 7:14 (3×)Dan 7:26Dan 7:27 (2×)
Root family
Word studyshol-TAHNnoun

What sholtan means

sovereign power to rule: the authority a king or God holds over a realm and its people.

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

This word belongs to the Aramaic chapters of Daniel, and every one of its fourteen appearances circles the same question: who holds the power to rule, and how long will they keep it. It is not the kingdom or the reign itself (מַלְכוּ), and not the ruler who sits over it (שַׁלִּיט). It is the ruling power a throne carries, the right and the strength to give orders that stand.

In Daniel's visions that power is something handed out and taken back:

  • a beast like a leopard is given dominion for a season
  • the other beasts have their dominion stripped away from them
  • the one who comes with the clouds of heaven receives a dominion that will never pass away
  • at the last, the ruling power under the whole sky is given to the people of God's holy ones

Twice the word shifts from the power itself to the ground it covers: Nebuchadnezzar's rule is said to reach the end of the earth, and Darius sends his decree through every domain of his realm. Once, in the final verse where it appears, the plural names the ruling powers themselves, the ones who will serve and obey. These are one idea seen from different sides: the authority, the territory it covers, and those who wield it.

The book sets two kinds of dominion against each other. Every human ruler in it holds power on loan, for a set time, and loses it. God's dominion runs from generation to generation, and the rule he finally gives away is the one rule that cannot be destroyed.

Nuances

1athe authority to rule: God's rule that never ends, or a ruler's power that can be handed over and taken back.
Dan 4:3(3:33)Dan 4:22(19)Dan 4:34(31) (2×)Dan 6:26(27) (2×)Dan 7:6Dan 7:12Dan 7:14 (3×)Dan 7:26Dan 7:27 (2×)
1bthe ground that authority covers: the realm and the people under one ruler's power.
Dan 6:26(27) (2×)
1cin the plural, the ruling powers themselves: those who hold authority and must answer to a greater one.
TranslatabilityPartial
Dan 7:27 (2×)

What scholars say about sholtan

The Aramaic lexica agree on the core sense. BDB's Aramaic section and HALOT's Aramaic volume both give "dominion, sovereignty" and note the extension to the realm ruled at Daniel 6:27 (English 6:26), where בְּכָל שָׁלְטָן מַלְכוּתִי is commonly taken of the territory under Darius; Vogt's Lexicon of Biblical Aramaic lists the same range and takes the plural שָׁלְטָנַיָּא of 7:27 concretely, of rulers. Rosenthal's Grammar of Biblical Aramaic classes the noun with the regular abstract formations built on the root שלט, alongside the verb שְׁלֵט and the adjective שַׁלִּיט. Commentators read the noun as the controlling term of the vision cycle for delegated rule: Montgomery (ICC) and Goldingay (WBC) both stress that in chapter 7 dominion is given (יְהִיב) and removed by verdict of the heavenly court, and Collins (Hermeneia) contrasts the beasts' bounded authority with the everlasting dominion granted to the one like a son of man and, at 7:27, to the people of the holy ones. Whether that final plural denotes abstract dominions or the rulers who hold them is the one live lexical question, and it leaves the sense of the singular untouched.

Sources

  • BDB, Aramaic section, s.v. שָׁלְטָןlexicon
  • HALOT, Aramaic volume, s.v. שָׁלְטָןlexicon
  • E. Vogt, A Lexicon of Biblical Aramaic, trans. J. A. Fitzmyer (Rome: Gregorian and Biblical Press, 2011), s.v. שלטןlexicon
  • F. Rosenthal, A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz)grammar
  • J. A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (ICC; Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1927)commentary
  • J. E. Goldingay, Daniel (Word Biblical Commentary 30; Dallas: Word, 1989)commentary
  • J. J. Collins, Daniel: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993)commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of שׇׁלְטָן

c s construct

שָׁלְטָנֵהּ

Dan 4:3, Dan 4:34, Dan 6:26, Dan 7:14, Dan 7:26

c s construct

שָׁלְטָן

Dan 4:34, Dan 6:26, Dan 7:14

c s absolute

שָׁלְטָן

Dan 7:6, Dan 7:14

c s construct

שָׁלְטָנָךְ

Dan 4:22

c s construct

שָׁלְטָנְהוֹן

Dan 7:12

c s determined

שָׁלְטָנָא

Dan 7:27

m p determined

שָׁלְטָנַיָּא

Dan 7:27