Daniel 1:6

1:6 As it turned out, ¹  among these young men ²  were some from Judah: ³  Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ⁴ 

Daniel 1:3

1:3 The king commanded ⁵  Ashpenaz, ⁶  who was in charge of his court officials, ⁷  to choose ⁸  some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent ⁹  –

Daniel 9:1

Daniel Prays for His People

9:1 In the first year of Darius ¹⁰  son of Ahasuerus, ¹¹  who was of Median descent and who had been ¹²  appointed king over the Babylonian ¹³  empire –

Daniel 8:17

8:17 So he approached the place where I was standing. As he came, I felt terrified and fell flat on the ground. ¹⁴  Then he said to me, “Understand, son of man, ¹⁵  that the vision pertains to the time of the end.”

Daniel 11:10

11:10 His sons ¹⁶  will wage war, mustering a large army which will advance like an overflowing river and carrying the battle all the way to the enemy’s ¹⁷  fortress. ¹⁸ 

Daniel 11:14

11:14 “In those times many will oppose ¹⁹  the king of the south. ²⁰  Those who are violent ²¹  among your own people will rise up in confirmation of ²²  the vision, but they will falter.

Daniel 11:41

11:41 Then he will enter the beautiful land. ²³  Many ²⁴  will fall, but these will escape: ²⁵  Edom, Moab, and the Ammonite leadership.

Daniel 10:16

10:16 Then ²⁶  one who appeared to be a human being ²⁷  was touching my lips. I opened my mouth and started to speak, saying to the one who was standing before me, “Sir, ²⁸  due to the vision, anxiety has gripped me and I have no strength.

Daniel 12:1

12:1 “At that time Michael,

the great prince who watches over your people, ²⁹ 

will arise. ³⁰ 

There will be a time of distress

unlike any other from the nation’s beginning ³¹ 

up to that time.

But at that time your own people,

all those whose names are ³²  found written in the book,

will escape.

¹ tn Heb “and it happened that.”

² tn Heb “among them”; the referent (the young men taken captive from Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “the sons of Judah.”

⁴ sn The names reflect a Jewish heritage. In Hebrew Daniel means “God is my judge”; Hananiah means “the Lord is gracious”; Mishael means “who is what God is?”; Azariah means “the Lord has helped.”

⁵ tn Or “gave orders to.” Heb “said to.”

⁶ 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.

⁷ 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.

⁸ tn Heb “bring.”

⁹ tn Heb “and from the seed of royalty and from the nobles.”

⁹ sn The identity of this Darius is a major problem in correlating the biblical material with the extra-biblical records of this period. Most modern scholars treat the reference as a mistaken allusion to Darius Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.). Others have maintained instead that this name is a reference to the Persian governor Gubaru. Still others understand the reference to be to the Persian king Cyrus (cf. 6:28, where the vav (ו) may be understood as vav explicativum, meaning “even”). Under either of these latter two interpretations, the first year of Darius would have been ca. 538 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately eighty-two years old at this time.

¹⁰ tc The LXX reads “Xerxes.” This is the reading used by some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV). Most other English versions retain the Hebrew name “Ahasuerus.”

¹¹ tc The present translation follows the MT in reading a Hophal (i.e., passive). Theodotion, the Syriac, and the Vulgate all presuppose the Hiphil (i.e., active). Even though this is the only occurrence of the Hophal of this verb in the Bible, there is no need to emend the vocalization to the Hiphil.

¹² tn Heb “was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.”

¹³ tn Heb “on my face.”

¹⁴ tn Or “human one.”

¹⁷ sn The sons of Seleucus II Callinicus were Seleucus III Ceraunus (ca. 227-223 B.C.) and Antiochus III the Great (ca. 223-187 B.C.).

¹⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the enemy of the king of the north) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹ tn Heb “and he will certainly come and overflow and cross over and return and be aroused unto a fortress.” The translation has attempted to simplify the syntax of this difficult sequence.

²¹ tn Heb “stand against.”

²² sn This was Ptolemy V Epiphanes (ca. 203-181 B.C.).

²³ tn Heb “sons of violence.” “Son(s) is sometimes used idiomatically in Hebrew to indicate that someone is characterized by a certain quality. So the expression “sons of violence” means that these individuals will be characterized by violent deeds.

²⁴ tn Heb “to cause to stand.”

²⁵ sn The beautiful land is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel.

²⁶ tn This can be understood as “many people” (cf. NRSV) or “many countries” (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

²⁷ tn Heb “be delivered from his hand.”

²⁹ tn Heb “Behold.”

³⁰ tc So most Hebrew MSS; one Hebrew MS along with the Dead Sea Scrolls and LXX read “something that looked like a man’s hand.”

³¹ tn Heb “my lord,” here a title of polite address. Cf. v. 19.

³³ tn Heb “stands over the sons of your people.”

³⁴ tn Heb “will stand up.”

³⁵ tn Or “from the beginning of a nation.”

³⁶ tn The words “whose names are” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.