Daniel 1:1

Daniel Finds Favor in Babylon

1:1 In the third ¹  year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar ²  of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem ³  and laid it under siege. ⁴ 

Daniel 1:5

1:5 So the king assigned them a daily ration ⁵  from his royal delicacies ⁶  and from the wine he himself drank. They were to be trained ⁷  for the next three years. At the end of that time they were to enter the king’s service. ⁸ 

Daniel 8:1

Daniel Has a Vision of a Goat and a Ram

8:1 ⁹ In the third year ¹⁰  of King Belshazzar’s reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me previously. ¹¹ 

Daniel 10:1

An Angel Appears to Daniel

10:1 ¹² In the third ¹³  year of King Cyrus of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel (who was also called Belteshazzar). This message was true and concerned a great war. ¹⁴  He understood the message and gained insight by the vision.

¹ sn The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim would be ca. 605 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been a teenager. The reference to Jehoiakim’s third year poses a serious crux interpretum, since elsewhere these events are linked to his fourth year (Jer 25:1; cf. 2 Kgs 24:1; 2 Chr 36:5-8). Apparently Daniel is following an accession year chronology, whereby the first partial year of a king’s reign was reckoned as the accession year rather than as the first year of his reign. Jeremiah, on the other hand, is following a nonaccession year chronology, whereby the accession year is reckoned as the first year of the king’s reign. In that case, the conflict is only superficial. Most modern scholars, however, have concluded that Daniel is historically inaccurate here.

² sn King Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon from ca. 605-562 B.C.

³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁴ sn This attack culminated in the first of three major deportations of Jews to Babylon. The second one occurred in 597 B.C. and included among many other Jewish captives the prophet Ezekiel. The third deportation occurred in 586 B.C., at which time the temple and the city of Jerusalem were thoroughly destroyed.

⁵ tn Heb “a thing of a day in its day.”

⁶ tn Heb “from the delicacies of the king.”

⁷ tn Or “educated.” See HALOT 179 s.v. I גדל.

⁸ tn Heb “stand before the king.”

⁹ sn Dan 8:1 marks the switch from Aramaic (= 2:4b-7:28) back to Hebrew as the language in which the book is written in its present form. The remainder of the book from this point on (8:1-12:13) is in Hebrew. The bilingual nature of the book has been variously explained, but it most likely has to do with the book’s transmission history.

¹⁰ sn The third year of King Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 551 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 69 years old at the time of this vision.

¹¹ tn Heb “in the beginning.” This refers to the vision described in chapter seven.

¹³ sn This chapter begins the final unit in the book of Daniel, consisting of chapters 10-12. The traditional chapter divisions to some extent obscure the relationship of these chapters.

¹⁴ tc The LXX has “first.”

¹⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word צָבָא (tsava’) is uncertain in this context. The word most often refers to an army or warfare. It may also mean “hard service,” and many commentators take that to be the sense here (i.e., “the service was great”). The present translation assumes the reference to be to the spiritual conflicts described, for example, in 10:16–11:1.