2:22 he reveals deep and hidden things.
He knows what is in the darkness,
and light resides with him.
1 tn Aram “[the king’s] brightness changed for him.”
2 tn Aram “his thoughts were alarming him.”
3 tn Aram “his loins went slack.”
1 sn The phrase like that of a god is in Aramaic “like that of a son of the gods.” Many patristic writers understood this phrase in a christological sense (i.e., “the Son of God”). But it should be remembered that these are words spoken by a pagan who is seeking to explain things from his own polytheistic frame of reference; for him the phrase “like a son of the gods” is equivalent to “like a divine being.”
1 tc The translation reads מִפְשַׁר (mifshar) rather than the MT מְפַשַּׁר (mÿfashar) and later in the verse reads וּמִשְׁרֵא (mishre’) rather than the MT וּמְשָׁרֵא (mÿshare’). The Masoretes have understood these Aramaic forms to be participles, but they are more likely to be vocalized as infinitives. As such, they have an epexegetical function in the syntax of their clause.
2 tn Aram “to loose knots.”
3 tn Aram “let [Daniel] be summoned.”
1 tn The Aramaic text has also the words “about you.”
2 tn Or perhaps “one of three rulers,” in the sense of becoming part of a triumvir. So also v. 29.