Daniel 3:9-10

3:9 They said ¹  to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! ²  3:10 You have issued an edict, O king, that everyone must bow down and pay homage to the golden statue when they hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music.

Daniel 3:17

3:17 If ³  our God whom we are serving exists, ⁴  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.

Daniel 4:22

4:22 it is you, ⁵  O king! For you have become great and strong. Your greatness is such that it reaches to heaven, and your authority to the ends of the earth.

Daniel 4:27

4:27 Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps your prosperity will be prolonged.” ⁶ 

Daniel 5:18

5:18 As for you, O king, the most high God bestowed on your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty. ⁷ 

Daniel 6:7

6:7 To all the supervisors of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, counselors, and governors it seemed like a good idea for a royal edict to be issued and an interdict to be enforced. For the next thirty days anyone who prays ⁸  to any god or human other than you, O king, should be thrown into a den of lions.

Daniel 6:22

6:22 My God sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths so that they have not harmed me, because I was found to be innocent before him. Nor have I done any harm to you, O king.”

Daniel 6:1

Daniel is Thrown into a Lions’ Den

6:1 It seemed like a good idea to Darius ⁹  to appoint over the kingdom 120 satraps ¹⁰  who would be in charge of the entire kingdom.

Daniel 1:1

Daniel Finds Favor in Babylon

1:1 In the third ¹¹  year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar ¹²  of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem ¹³  and laid it under siege. ¹⁴ 

Acts 26:13

26:13 about noon along the road, Your Majesty, ¹⁵  I saw a light from heaven, ¹⁶  brighter than the sun, shining everywhere around ¹⁷  me and those traveling with me.

Acts 26:27

26:27 Do you believe the prophets, ¹⁸  King Agrippa? ¹⁹  I know that you believe.”

¹ tn Aram “answered and said,” a common Aramaic idiom that occurs repeatedly in this chapter.

² sn O king, live forever! is a comment of typical court courtesy that is not necessarily indicative of the real sentiments of the speaker. Ancient oriental court protocol could sometimes require a certain amount of hypocrisy.

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.

⁵ sn Much of modern scholarship views this chapter as a distortion of traditions that were originally associated with Nabonidus rather than with Nebuchadnezzar. A Qumran text, the Prayer of Nabonidus, is often cited for parallels to these events.

⁶ tn Aram “if there may be a lengthening to your prosperity.”

⁷ tn Or “royal greatness and majestic honor,” if the four terms are understood as a double hendiadys.

⁸ tn Aram “prays a prayer.”

⁹ tn Aram “It was pleasing before Darius.”

¹⁰ tn This is a technical term for an official placed in charge of a region of the empire (cf. KJV, NLT “prince[s]”; NCV, TEV “governors”). These satraps were answerable to a supervisor, who in turn answered to Darius.

¹¹ sn The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim would be ca. 605 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been a teenager. The reference to Jehoiakim’s third year poses a serious crux interpretum, since elsewhere these events are linked to his fourth year (Jer 25:1; cf. 2 Kgs 24:1; 2 Chr 36:5-8). Apparently Daniel is following an accession year chronology, whereby the first partial year of a king’s reign was reckoned as the accession year rather than as the first year of his reign. Jeremiah, on the other hand, is following a nonaccession year chronology, whereby the accession year is reckoned as the first year of the king’s reign. In that case, the conflict is only superficial. Most modern scholars, however, have concluded that Daniel is historically inaccurate here.

¹² sn King Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon from ca. 605-562 B.C.

¹³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁴ sn This attack culminated in the first of three major deportations of Jews to Babylon. The second one occurred in 597 B.C. and included among many other Jewish captives the prophet Ezekiel. The third deportation occurred in 586 B.C., at which time the temple and the city of Jerusalem were thoroughly destroyed.

¹⁵ tn Grk “O King.”

¹⁶ tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

¹⁷ tn The word “everywhere” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of περιλάμψαν (perilamyan). Otherwise the modern reader might think that each of the individuals were encircled by lights or halos. See also Acts 9:7; 22:6, 9.

¹⁸ sn “Do you believe the prophets?” Note how Paul made the issue believing the OT prophets and God’s promise which God fulfilled in Christ. He was pushing King Agrippa toward a decision not for or against Paul’s guilt of any crime, but concerning Paul’s message.

¹⁹ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.