Daniel 2:18

2:18 He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he ¹  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 2:20

2:20 saying, ² 

“Let the name of God ³  be praised ⁴  forever and ever,

for wisdom and power belong to him.

Daniel 2:37

Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

2:37 “You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has granted you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor.

Daniel 3:17-18

3:17 If ⁵  our God whom we are serving exists, ⁶  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well. 3:18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we don’t serve your gods, and we will not pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

Daniel 6:5

6:5 So these men concluded, ⁷  “We won’t find any pretext against this man Daniel unless it is ⁸  in connection with the law of his God.”

Daniel 3:29

3:29 I hereby decree ⁹  that any people, nation, or language group that blasphemes ¹⁰  the god of Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego will be dismembered and his home reduced to rubble! For there exists no other god who can deliver in this way.”

Daniel 6:26

6:26 I have issued an edict that throughout all the dominion of my kingdom people are to revere and fear the God of Daniel.

“For he is the living God;

he endures forever.

His kingdom will not be destroyed;

his authority is forever. ¹¹ 

Daniel 5:23

5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ¹²  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ¹³  your very breath and all your ways!

¹ tn Aram “Daniel.” The proper name is redundant here in English, and has not been included in the translation.

² tn Aram “Daniel answered and said.”

³ sn As is often the case in the Bible, here the name represents the person.

⁴ tn Or “blessed.”

³ tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

⁴ 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.

⁴ tn Aram “were saying.”

⁵ tn Aram “unless we find [it] against him.”

⁵ tn Aram “from me is placed an edict.”

⁶ tn Aram “speaks negligence.”

⁶ tn Aram “until the end.”

⁷ tn Aram “which.”

⁸ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”