3:8 Now 2 at that time certain 3 Chaldeans came forward and brought malicious accusations against 4 the Jews.
2:21 He changes times and seasons,
deposing some kings
and establishing others. 6
He gives wisdom to the wise;
he imparts knowledge to those with understanding; 7
7:25 He will speak words against the Most High.
He will harass 9 the holy ones of the Most High continually.
His intention 10 will be to change times established by law. 11
They will be delivered into his hand
For a time, times, 12 and half a time.
4:36 At that time my sanity returned to me. I was restored 15 to the honor of my kingdom, and my splendor returned to me. My ministers and my nobles were seeking me out, and I was reinstated 16 over my kingdom. I became even greater than before.
6:10 When Daniel realized 19 that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows 20 in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. 21 Three 22 times daily he was 23 kneeling 24 and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously.
1 tc Theodotion and the Syriac lack the words “went in and.”
2 tc This expression is absent in Theodotion.
3 tn Aram “men.”
4 tn Aram “ate the pieces of.” This is a rather vivid idiom for slander.
3 tn Aram “a prolonging of life was granted to them.”
4 tn Aram “kings.”
5 tn Aram “the knowers of understanding.”
5 tc In the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate the verb is active, understanding “judgment” to be the object rather than the subject of the verb (i.e., “the Ancient of Days rendered judgment”). This presupposes a different vocalization of the verb ( יְהַב [yÿhav] rather than the MT יְהִב [yÿhiv]).
6 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.”
7 tn Aram “he will think.”
8 tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.
9 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.”
7 tn Aram “all the peoples.”
8 tc Though not in the Aramaic text of BHS, this word appears in many medieval Hebrew
8 tc The translation reads הַדְרֵת (hadret, “I returned”) rather than the MT הַדְרִי (hadri, “my honor”); cf. Theodotion.
9 tc The translation reads הָתְקְנֵת (hotqÿnet, “I was established”) rather than the MT הָתְקְנַת (hotqÿnat, “it was established”). As it stands, the MT makes no sense here.
9 tn Aram “from the sons of the captivity [of].”
10 tn Aram “prays his prayer.”
10 tn Aram “knew.”
11 sn In later rabbinic thought this verse was sometimes cited as a proof text for the notion that one should pray only in a house with windows. See b. Berakhot 34b.
12 map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
13 sn This is apparently the only specific mention in the OT of prayer being regularly offered three times a day. The practice was probably not unique to Daniel, however.
14 tc Read with several medieval Hebrew
15 tn Aram “kneeling on his knees” (so NASB).