Daniel 1:7

1:7 But the overseer of the court officials renamed them. He gave ¹  Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah he named Shadrach, Mishael he named Meshach, and Azariah he named Abednego. ² 

Daniel 1:20

1:20 In every matter of wisdom and ³  insight the king asked them about, he found them to be ten times ⁴  better than any of the magicians and astrologers that were in his entire empire.

Daniel 8:9

8:9 From one of them came a small horn. ⁵  But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ⁶ 

Daniel 11:14

11:14 “In those times many will oppose ⁷  the king of the south. ⁸  Those who are violent ⁹  among your own people will rise up in confirmation of ¹⁰  the vision, but they will falter.

¹ tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.

² sn The meanings of the Babylonian names are more conjectural than is the case with the Hebrew names. The probable etymologies are as follows: Belteshazzar means “protect his life,” although the MT vocalization may suggest “Belti, protect the king” (cf. Dan 4:8); Shadrach perhaps means “command of Aku”; Meshach is of uncertain meaning; Abednego means “servant of Nego.” Assigning Babylonian names to the Hebrew youths may have been an attempt to erase from their memory their Israelite heritage.

³ tc The MT lacks the conjunction, reading the first word in the phrase as a construct (“wisdom of insight”). While this reading is not impossible, it seems better to follow Theodotion, the Syriac, the Vulgate, and the Sahidic Coptic, all of which have the conjunction.

⁴ tn Heb “hands.”

⁵ 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.

⁶ 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”).

⁷ tn Heb “stand against.”

⁸ sn This was Ptolemy V Epiphanes (ca. 203-181 B.C.).

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ tn Heb “to cause to stand.”