Daniel 4:13-14

4:13 While I was watching in my mind’s visions ¹  on my bed,

a holy sentinel ²  came down from heaven.

4:14 He called out loudly ³  as follows: ⁴ 

‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches!

Strip off its foliage

and scatter its fruit!

Let the animals flee from under it

and the birds from its branches!

Daniel 4:1

4:1 (3:31) ⁵  “King Nebuchadnezzar, to all peoples, nations, and language groups that live in all the land: Peace and prosperity! ⁶ 

Daniel 1:19-20

1:19 When the king spoke with them, he did not find among the entire group ⁷  anyone like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, or Azariah. So they entered the king’s service. ⁸  1:20 In every matter of wisdom and ⁹  insight the king asked them about, he found them to be ten times ¹⁰  better than any of the magicians and astrologers that were in his entire empire.

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 

Daniel 5:21

5:21 He was driven from human society, his mind ¹⁵  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ¹⁶  with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.

¹ tn Aram “the visions of my head.”

² tn Aram “a watcher and a holy one.” The expression is a hendiadys; so also in v. 23. This “watcher” is apparently an angel. The Greek OT (LXX) in fact has ἄγγελος (angelo", “angel”) here. Theodotion simply transliterates the Aramaic word (’ir). The term is sometimes rendered “sentinel” (NAB) or “messenger” (NIV, NLT).

³ tn Aram “in strength.”

⁴ tn Aram “and thus he was saying.”

⁵ sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:37 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Aramaic text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:31 AT, 4:2 ET = 3:32 AT, 4:3 ET = 3:33 AT, 4:4 ET = 4:1 AT, etc., through 4:37 ET = 4:34 AT. Thus Dan 3:31-33 of the Aramaic text appears as Dan 4:1-3 in the English Bible, and the corresponding verses of ch. 4 differ accordingly. In spite of the division of the Aramaic text, a good case can be made that 3:31-33 AT (= 4:1-3 ET) is actually the introduction to ch. 4.

⁶ tn Aram “May your peace increase!”

⁷ tn Heb “from all of them.”

⁸ tn Heb “stood before the king.”

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ tn Heb “hands.”

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 Aram “heart.”

¹⁶ tn Aram “his dwelling.”