Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.

DANIEL 3:8KJV
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Daniel 3:8 (KJV)

What does Daniel 3:8 mean?

Daniel 3:8 describes the moment when certain Chaldeans brought an accusation against the Jews. Their approach turns the public response to King Nebuchadnezzar’s command into a charge against a particular group.

The narrator introduces the accusers after the people have bowed to the king’s image in verse 7. “Came near” prepares the reader for their formal address to the king, which begins in the next verse.

The Aramaic behind Daniel 3:8

  • “accused” — קְרַץ (qerats) and אֲכַל (akhal): Together with the word for “pieces,” these words form an expression for making an accusation. The image is often understood as “eating someone’s pieces,” suggesting a hostile denunciation rather than a neutral report.

Why Daniel 3:8 matters

  • The accusation begins broadly, but the following speech names three men. In verse 12, the Chaldeans identify Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as Jews who have not served the king’s gods or worshipped his image.

  • The accusers’ words bring the matter before the king himself. Their address in verse 9 shows that “came near” introduces an appeal to the ruler who gave the command.

Where else these words appear

“accused” Hebrew H7170 · used in 2 verses

  • Daniel 6:24 And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.

“Chaldeans” Hebrew H3779 · used in 7 verses

  • Daniel 2:5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
  • Daniel 4:7 Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.
  • Daniel 5:11 There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;

“accused” Hebrew H399 · used in 7 verses

  • Daniel 4:33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.
  • Daniel 7:5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
  • Daniel 7:19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;

“near” Hebrew H7127 · used in 9 verses

  • Ezra 6:10 That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.
  • Ezra 7:17 That thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
  • Daniel 6:20 And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?