7:4 “The first one was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was lifted up from the ground. It was made to stand on two feet like a human being, and a human mind 15 was given to it. 16
7:25 He will speak words against the Most High.
He will harass 17 the holy ones of the Most High continually.
His intention 18 will be to change times established by law. 19
They will be delivered into his hand
For a time, times, 20 and half a time.
9:26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,
an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. 26
As for the city and the sanctuary,
the people of the coming prince will destroy 27 them.
But his end will come speedily 28 like a flood. 29
Until the end of the war that has been decreed
there will be destruction.
12:1 “At that time Michael,
the great prince who watches over your people, 30
will arise. 31
There will be a time of distress
unlike any other from the nation’s beginning 32
up to that time.
But at that time your own people,
all those whose names are 33 found written in the book,
will escape.
1 tn Heb “a thing of a day in its day.”
2 tn Heb “from the delicacies of the king.”
3 tn Or “educated.” See HALOT 179 s.v. I גדל.
4 tn Heb “stand before the king.”
5 tn Aram “as one.” For the meaning “without distinction” see the following: F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 36, §64, and p. 93; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 60.
9 tc The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.”
13 tn Aram “until.”
17 tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).
18 tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.
19 tn Or “taken.”
20 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
21 sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.
21 tn The Aramaic text has also the words “about you.”
22 tn Or perhaps “one of three rulers,” in the sense of becoming part of a triumvir. So also v. 29.
25 tn Aram “heart of a man.”
26 sn The identity of the first animal, derived from v. 17 and the parallels in chap. 2, is Babylon. The reference to the plucking of its wings is probably a reference to the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity (cf. chap. 4). The latter part of v. 4 then describes the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar. The other animals have traditionally been understood to represent respectively Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, although most of modern scholarship identifies them as Media, Persia, and Greece. For a biblical parallel to the mention of lion, bear, and leopard together, see Hos 13:7-8.
29 tn Aram “wear out” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB, NLT “wear down.” The word is a hapax legomenon in biblical Aramaic, but in biblical Hebrew it especially refers to wearing out such things as garments. Here it is translated “harass…continually.”
30 tn Aram “he will think.”
31 tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.
32 sn Although the word times is vocalized in the MT as a plural, it probably should be regarded as a dual. The Masoretes may have been influenced here by the fact that in late Aramaic (and Syriac) the dual forms fall out of use. The meaning would thus be three and a half “times.”
33 tn Heb “him.”
34 tn Heb “the ram.”
35 tn Heb “stand before him.”
36 tn Heb “he hurled him.” The referents of both pronouns (the male goat and the ram) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
37 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
37 sn The expression have nothing is difficult. Presumably it refers to an absence of support or assistance for the anointed one at the time of his “cutting off.” The KJV rendering “but not for himself,” apparently suggesting a vicarious death, cannot be defended.
38 tc Some witnesses (e.g., the Syriac) understand a passive verb and the preposition עִם (’im, “with) rather than the noun עַם (’am, “people”), thus reading “the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed with the coming prince.”
39 tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
40 sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.
41 tn Heb “stands over the sons of your people.”
42 tn Heb “will stand up.”
43 tn Or “from the beginning of a nation.”
44 tn The words “whose names are” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.