Daniel 1:3

1:3 The king commanded ¹  Ashpenaz, ²  who was in charge of his court officials, ³  to choose ⁴  some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent ⁵  –

Daniel 3:6

3:6 Whoever does not bow down and pay homage will immediately ⁶  be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire!”

Daniel 3:11

3:11 And whoever does not bow down and pay homage must be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.

Daniel 8:10

8:10 It grew so big it reached the army ⁷  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ⁸  to the ground, where it trampled them.

Daniel 11:5

11:5 “Then the king of the south ⁹  and one of his subordinates ¹⁰  will grow strong. His subordinate ¹¹  will resist ¹²  him and will rule a kingdom greater than his. ¹³ 

Daniel 11:23

11:23 After ¹⁴  entering into an alliance with him, he will behave treacherously; he will ascend to power with only a small force. ¹⁵ 

Daniel 3:17

3:17 If ¹⁶  our God whom we are serving exists, ¹⁷  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.

Daniel 8:9

8:9 From one of them came a small horn. ¹⁸  But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ¹⁹ 

Daniel 11:35

11:35 Even some of the wise will stumble, resulting in their refinement, purification, and cleansing until the time of the end, for it is still for the appointed time.

Daniel 2:41

2:41 In that you were seeing feet and toes ²⁰  partly of wet clay ²¹  and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom. Some of the strength of iron will be in it, for you saw iron mixed with wet clay. ²² 

Daniel 4:32-33

4:32 You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before ²³  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.”

4:33 Now in that very moment ²⁴  this pronouncement about ²⁵  Nebuchadnezzar came true. ²⁶  He was driven from human society, he ate grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until his hair became long like an eagle’s feathers, and his nails like a bird’s claws. ²⁷ 

Daniel 5:19

5:19 Due to the greatness that he bestowed on him, all peoples, nations, and language groups were trembling with fear ²⁸  before him. He killed whom he wished, he spared ²⁹  whom he wished, he exalted whom he wished, and he brought low whom he wished.

Daniel 5:21

5:21 He was driven from human society, his mind ³⁰  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ³¹  with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.

Daniel 3:15

3:15 Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?” ³² 

¹ tn Or “gave orders to.” Heb “said to.”

² sn It is possible that the word Ashpenaz is not a proper name at all, but a general term for “innkeeper.” See J. J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia), 127, n. 9. However, the ancient versions understand the term to be a name, and the present translation (along with most English versions) understands the word in this way.

³ sn The word court official (Hebrew saris) need not mean “eunuch” in a technical sense (see Gen 37:36, where the term refers to Potiphar, who had a wife), although in the case of the book of Daniel there was in Jewish literature a common tradition to that effect. On the OT usage of this word see HALOT 769-70 s.v. סָרֹיס.

⁴ tn Heb “bring.”

⁵ tn Heb “and from the seed of royalty and from the nobles.”

⁶ tn Aram “in that hour.”

¹¹ tn Traditionally, “host.” The term refers to God’s heavenly angelic assembly, which he sometimes leads into battle as an army.

¹² sn In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Isa 40:26. In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13).

¹⁶ sn The king of the south is Ptolemy I Soter (ca. 323-285 B.C.). The following reference to one of his subordinates apparently has in view Seleucus I Nicator (ca. 311-280 B.C.). Throughout the remainder of chap. 11 the expressions “king of the south” and “king of the north” repeatedly occur. It is clear, however, that these terms are being used generically to describe the Ptolemaic king (i.e., “of the south”) or the Seleucid king (i.e., “of the north”) who happens to be in power at any particular time. The specific identity of these kings can be established more or less successfully by a comparison of this chapter with the available extra-biblical records that discuss the history of the intertestamental period. In the following notes the generally accepted identifications are briefly mentioned.

¹⁷ tn Heb “princes.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the subordinate prince mentioned in the previous clause) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹ tn Heb “be strong against.”

²⁰ tn Heb “greater than his kingdom.”

²¹ tn The preposition מִן (min) is probably temporal here (so BDB 583 s.v. 7.c; cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV), although it could also be understood here as indicating means (so J. Goldingay, Daniel [WBC], 279, n. 23a; cf. TEV, NLT).

²² tn Heb “nation.”

²⁶ tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

²⁷ tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.

³¹ sn This small horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who controlled the Seleucid kingdom from ca. 175-164 B.C. Antiochus was extremely hostile toward the Jews and persecuted them mercilessly.

³² sn The expression the beautiful land (Heb. הַצֶּבִי [hatsÿvi] = “the beauty”) is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel. Cf. 11:16, 41, where it is preceded by the word אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”).

³⁶ tc The LXX lacks “and toes.”

³⁷ tn Aram “potter’s clay.”

³⁸ tn Aram “clay of clay” (also in v. 43).

⁴¹ tn Aram “until.”

⁴⁶ tn Aram “hour.”

⁴⁷ tn Or “on.”

⁴⁸ tn Aram “was fulfilled.”

⁴⁹ tn The words “feathers” and “claws” are not present in the Aramaic text, but have been added in the translation for clarity.

⁵¹ tn Aram “were trembling and fearing.” This can be treated as a hendiadys, “were trembling with fear.”

⁵² tn Aram “let live.” This Aramaic form is the aphel participle of חַיָה(khayah, “to live”). Theodotion and the Vulgate mistakenly take the form to be from מְחָא (mÿkha’, “to smite”).

⁵⁶ tn Aram “heart.”

⁵⁷ tn Aram “his dwelling.”

⁶¹ tn Aram “hand.” So also in v. 17.