Text -- Daniel 7:1-2 (NET)

Daniel has a Vision of Four Animals Coming up from the Sea

7:1 In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream filled with visions while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. 7:2 Daniel explained: “I was watching in my vision during the night as the four winds of the sky were stirring up the great sea.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Dan 7:1

¹ sn The first year of Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 553 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 67 years old at the time of this vision.

² tn Aram “saw.”

³ tn Aram “and visions of his head.” The Aramaic is difficult here. Some scholars add a verb thought to be missing (e.g., “the visions of his head [were alarming him]”), but there is no external evidence to support such a decision and the awkwardness of the text at this point may be original.

⁴ tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”

NET Notes: Dan 7:2

¹ tn Aram “answered and said.”

² tn Aram “and behold.”

³ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

⁴ sn The referent of the great sea is unclear. The common view that the expression refers to the Mediterranean Sea is conjectural.