26:19 King Hezekiah and all the people of Judah did not put him to death, did they? Did not Hezekiah show reverence for the Lord and seek the Lord’s favor? 4 Did not 5 the Lord forgo destroying them 6 as he threatened he would? But we are on the verge of bringing great disaster on ourselves.” 7
9:11 “All Israel has broken 8 your law and turned away by not obeying you. 9 Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened 10 in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. 11 9:12 He has carried out his threats 12 against us and our rulers 13 who were over 14 us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven!
9:1 In the first year of Darius 15 son of Ahasuerus, 16 who was of Median descent and who had been 17 appointed king over the Babylonian 18 empire –
1 tn Heb “his words.”
2 tn All three verbal forms (“mocked,” “despised,” and “ridiculed”) are active participles in the Hebrew text, indicating continual or repeated action. They made a habit of rejecting God’s prophetic messengers.
3 tn Heb “until the anger of the
4 tn This Hebrew idiom (חָלָה פָּנִים, khalah panim) is often explained in terms of “stroking” or “patting the face” of someone, seeking to gain his favor. It is never used in a literal sense and is found in contexts of prayer (Exod 32:11; Ps 119:158), worship (Zech 8:21-22), humble submission (2 Chr 3:12), or amendment of behavior (Dan 9:13). All were true to one extent or another of Hezekiah.
5 tn The he interrogative (הַ)with the negative governs all three of the verbs, the perfect and the two vav (ו) consecutive imperfects that follow it. The next clause has disjunctive word order and introduces a contrast. The question expects a positive answer.
6 tn For the translation of the terms involved here see the translator’s note on 18:8.
7 tn Or “great harm to ourselves.” The word “disaster” (or “harm”) is the same one that has been translated “destroying” in the preceding line and in vv. 3 and 13.
8 tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.
9 tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”
10 tn Heb “the curse and the oath which is written.” The term “curse” refers here to the judgments threatened in the Mosaic law (see Deut 28) for rebellion. The expression “the curse and the oath” is probably a hendiadys (cf. Num 5:21; Neh 10:29) referring to the fact that the covenant with its threatened judgments was ratified by solemn oath and made legally binding upon the covenant community.
11 tn Heb “him.”
12 tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”
13 tn Heb “our judges.”
14 tn Heb “who judged.”
15 sn The identity of this Darius is a major problem in correlating the biblical material with the extra-biblical records of this period. Most modern scholars treat the reference as a mistaken allusion to Darius Hystaspes (ca. 522-486
16 tc The LXX reads “Xerxes.” This is the reading used by some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV). Most other English versions retain the Hebrew name “Ahasuerus.”
17 tc The present translation follows the MT in reading a Hophal (i.e., passive). Theodotion, the Syriac, and the Vulgate all presuppose the Hiphil (i.e., active). Even though this is the only occurrence of the Hophal of this verb in the Bible, there is no need to emend the vocalization to the Hiphil.
18 tn Heb “was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.”
19 tn The Aramaic word מְהַחְצְפָה (mÿhakhtsÿfah) may refer to the severity of the king’s decree (i.e., “harsh”; so HALOT 1879 s.v. חצף; BDB 1093 s.v. חֲצַף), although it would seem that in a delicate situation such as this Daniel would avoid this kind of criticism of the king’s actions. The translation above understands the word to refer to the immediacy, not harshness, of the decree. See further, F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 50, §116; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 67.
20 tc Theodotion and the Syriac lack the words “went in and.”