Daniel 4:25

4:25 You will be driven ¹  from human society, ²  and you will live ³  with the wild animals. You will be fed ⁴  grass like oxen, ⁵  and you will become damp with the dew of the sky. Seven periods of time will pass by for you, before ⁶  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.

Daniel 5:7

5:7 The king called out loudly ⁷  to summon ⁸  the astrologers, wise men, and diviners. The king proclaimed ⁹  to the wise men of Babylon that anyone who could read this inscription and disclose its interpretation would be clothed in purple ¹⁰  and have a golden collar ¹¹  placed on his neck and be third ruler in the kingdom.

Daniel 5:21

5:21 He was driven from human society, his mind ¹²  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ¹³  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.

Daniel 6:10

6:10 When Daniel realized ¹⁴  that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows ¹⁵  in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. ¹⁶  Three ¹⁷  times daily he was ¹⁸  kneeling ¹⁹  and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously.

¹ tn The Aramaic indefinite active plural is used here like the English passive. So also in v. 28, 29,32.

² tn Aram “from mankind.” So also in v. 32.

³ tn Aram “your dwelling will be.” So also in v. 32.

⁴ tn Or perhaps “be made to eat.”

⁵ sn Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity has features that are associated with the mental disorder known as boanthropy, in which the person so afflicted imagines himself to be an ox or a similar animal and behaves accordingly.

⁶ tn Aram “until.”

⁷ tn Aram “in strength.”

⁸ tn Aram “cause to enter.”

⁹ tn Aram “answered and said.”

¹⁰ sn Purple was a color associated with royalty in the ancient world.

¹¹ tn The term translated “golden collar” here probably refers to something more substantial than merely a gold chain (cf. NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT) or necklace (cf. NASB).

¹³ tn Aram “heart.”

¹⁴ tn Aram “his dwelling.”

¹⁹ tn Aram “knew.”

²⁰ 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.

²¹ 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.

²² 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.

²³ tc Read with several medieval Hebrew MSS and printed editions הֲוָה (havah) rather than the MT הוּא (hu’).

²⁴ tn Aram “kneeling on his knees” (so NASB).