7:27 2 Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who so moved in the heart of the king to so honor the temple of the Lord which is in Jerusalem! 7:28 He has also conferred his favor on me before the king, his advisers, and all the influential leaders of the king. I gained strength as the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.
Now 7 I was cupbearer for the king.
106:46 He caused all their conquerors 16
to have pity on them.
16:7 When a person’s 17 ways are pleasing to the Lord, 18
he 19 even reconciles his enemies to himself. 20
1 tn Heb “turn [his] face from you.”
2 sn At this point the language of the book reverts from Aramaic (7:12-26) back to Hebrew.
3 tn The interjection אָנָּא (’anna’) is an emphatic term of entreaty: “please!” (BDB 58 s.v.; HALOT 69-70 s.v.). This term is normally reserved for pleas for mercy from God in life-and-death situations (2 Kgs 20:3 = Isa 38:3; Pss 116:4; 118:25; Jonah 1:14; 4:2) and for forgiveness of heinous sins that would result or have resulted in severe judgment from God (Exod 32:31; Dan 9:4; Neh 1:5, 11).
4 tn Heb “let your ear be attentive.”
5 tn Heb “fear.”
6 tn Heb “grant compassion.” The words “to me” are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style in English.
7 tn The vav (ו) on וַאֲנִי (va’ani, “Now, I”) introduces a disjunctive parenthetical clause that provides background information to the reader.
8 tn Heb “said to me.”
9 tn Heb “If upon the king it is good.” So also in v. 7.
10 tn Or “queen,” so most English versions (cf. HALOT 1415 s.v. שֵׁגַל); TEV “empress.”
11 tn Heb “It was good before the king and he sent me.”
12 tn Heb “across the river,” here and often elsewhere in the Book of Nehemiah.
13 tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.
14 tc One medieval Hebrew
15 tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.
16 tn Or “captors.”
17 tn Heb “ways of a man.”
18 tn The first line uses an infinitive in a temporal clause, followed by its subject in the genitive case: “in the taking pleasure of the
19 tn The referent of the verb in the second colon is unclear. The straightforward answer is that it refers to the person whose ways please the
20 tn Heb “even his enemies he makes to be at peace with him.”
21 tn Heb “Then God granted Daniel loyal love and compassion before the overseer of the court officials.” The expression “loyal love and compassion” is a hendiadys; the two words combine to express one idea.
22 tn Heb “The overseer of the court officials.” The subject has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.
23 tn Heb “assigned.” See v. 5.
24 tn Heb “Why should he see your faces thin from the young men who are according to your age?” The term translated “thin” occurs only here and in Gen 40:6, where it appears to refer to a dejected facial expression. The word is related to an Arabic root meaning “be weak.” See HALOT 277 s.v. II זעף.
25 tn The words “if that happened” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
26 tn Heb “my head.” Presumably this is an implicit reference to capital punishment (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), although this is not entirely clear.
27 tn Or “appointed.” See Gen 41:41-43.