Daniel 1:21

1:21 Now Daniel lived on until the first ¹  year of Cyrus the king.

Daniel 5:31--6:1

5:31 (6:1) ²  So Darius the Mede took control of the kingdom when he was about sixty-two years old.

Daniel is Thrown into a Lions’ Den

6:1 It seemed like a good idea to Darius ³  to appoint over the kingdom 120 satraps ⁴  who would be in charge of the entire kingdom.

Daniel 6:28

6:28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and ⁵  the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Daniel 11:1

11:1 And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I ⁶  stood to strengthen him and to provide protection for him.)

¹ sn The Persian king Cyrus’ first year in control of Babylon was 539 B.C. Daniel actually lived beyond the first year of Cyrus, as is clear from 10:1. The purpose of the statement in 1:21 is merely to say that Daniel’s life spanned the entire period of the neo-Babylonian empire. His life span also included the early years of the Persian control of Babylon. However, by that time his age was quite advanced; he probably died sometime in the 530’s B.C.

² sn Beginning with 5:31, the verse numbers through 6:28 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Aramaic text (BHS), with 5:31 ET = 6:1 AT, 6:1 ET = 6:2 AT, 6:2 ET = 6:3 AT, 6:3 ET = 6:4 AT, etc., through 6:28 ET = 6:29 AT. Beginning with 7:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Aramaic text are again the same.

³ tn Aram “It was pleasing before Darius.”

⁴ tn This is a technical term for an official placed in charge of a region of the empire (cf. KJV, NLT “prince[s]”; NCV, TEV “governors”). These satraps were answerable to a supervisor, who in turn answered to Darius.

⁵ tn Or perhaps “in the reign of Darius, even in the reign of Cyrus.” The identity of this Darius is disputed. Some take the name to be referring to Cyrus, understanding the following vav (ו, “and”) in an epexegetical sense (“even”). Others identify Darius with a governor of Babylon known from extra-biblical records as Gubaru, or with Cambyses, son of Cyrus. Many scholars maintain that the reference is historically inaccurate.

⁶ sn The antecedent of the pronoun “I” is the angel, not Daniel. The traditional chapter division at this point, and the presence of a chronological note in the verse similar to ones used elsewhere in the book to position Daniel’s activities in relation to imperial affairs, sometimes lead to confusion on this matter.