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 7:1

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

7:1 In the first ⁵  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had ⁶  a dream filled with visions ⁷  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. 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 

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 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.

⁶ tn Aram “saw.”

⁷ 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.

⁸ tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”

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.