Daniel 1:10

1:10 But he ¹  responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided ²  your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age? ³  If that happened, ⁴  you would endanger my life ⁵  with the king!”

Daniel 2:30

2:30 As for me, this mystery was revealed to me not because I possess more wisdom ⁶  than any other living person, but so that the king may understand ⁷  the interpretation and comprehend the thoughts of your mind. ⁸ 

Daniel 2:45

2:45 You saw that a stone was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands; it smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold into pieces. The great God has made known to the king what will occur in the future. ⁹  The dream is certain, and its interpretation is reliable.”

Daniel 8:7

8:7 I saw it approaching the ram. It went into a fit of rage against the ram ¹⁰  and struck it ¹¹  and broke off its two horns. The ram had no ability to resist it. ¹²  The goat hurled the ram ¹³  to the ground and trampled it. No one could deliver the ram from its power. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “The overseer of the court officials.” The subject has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

² tn Heb “assigned.” See v. 5.

³ 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.

⁴ tn The words “if that happened” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “my head.” Presumably this is an implicit reference to capital punishment (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), although this is not entirely clear.

⁶ tn Aram “not for any wisdom which is in me more than [in] any living man.”

⁷ tn Aram “they might cause the king to know.” The impersonal plural is used here to refer to the role of God’s spirit in revealing the dream and its interpretation to the king. As J. A. Montgomery says, “it appropriately here veils the mysterious agency” (Daniel [ICC], 164-65).

⁸ tn Aram “heart.”

¹¹ tn Aram “after this.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “him.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “the ram.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “stand before him.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “he hurled him.” The referents of both pronouns (the male goat and the ram) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁰ sn The goat of Daniel’s vision represents Greece; the large horn represents Alexander the Great. The ram stands for Media-Persia. Alexander’s rapid conquest of the Persians involved three battles of major significance which he won against overwhelming odds: Granicus (334 B.C.), Isus (333 B.C.), and Gaugemela (331 B.C.).