Daniel 5:16

5:16 However, I have heard ¹  that you are able to provide interpretations and to decipher knotty problems. Now if you are able to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, you will wear purple and have a golden collar around your neck and be third ²  ruler in the kingdom.”

Daniel 5:1

Belshazzar Sees Mysterious Handwriting on a Wall

5:1 King Belshazzar ³  prepared a great banquet ⁴  for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of ⁵  them all. ⁶ 

Daniel 10:1-3

An Angel Appears to Daniel

10:1 ⁷ In the third ⁸  year of King Cyrus of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel (who was also called Belteshazzar). This message was true and concerned a great war. ⁹  He understood the message and gained insight by the vision.

10:2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three whole weeks. ¹⁰  10:3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine came to my lips, ¹¹  nor did I anoint myself with oil ¹²  until the end of those three weeks.

Daniel 10:2

10:2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three whole weeks. ¹³ 

Daniel 9:1-2

Daniel Prays for His People

9:1 In the first year of Darius ¹⁴  son of Ahasuerus, ¹⁵  who was of Median descent and who had been ¹⁶  appointed king over the Babylonian ¹⁷  empire – 9:2 in the first year of his reign ¹⁸  I, Daniel, came to understand from the sacred books ¹⁹  that, according to the word of the LORD ²⁰  disclosed to the prophet Jeremiah, the years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem ²¹  were seventy in number.

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.

³ sn As is clear from the extra-biblical records, it was actually Nabonidus (ca. 556-539 B.C.) who was king of Babylon at this time. However, Nabonidus spent long periods of time at Teima, and during those times Belshazzar his son was de facto king of Babylon. This arrangement may help to explain why later in this chapter Belshazzar promises that the successful interpreter of the handwriting on the wall will be made third ruler in the kingdom. If Belshazzar was in effect second ruler in the kingdom, this would be the highest honor he could grant.

⁴ sn This scene of a Babylonian banquet calls to mind a similar grandiose event recorded in Esth 1:3-8. Persian kings were also renowned in the ancient Near Eastern world for their lavish banquets.

⁵ sn The king probably sat at an elevated head table.

⁶ tn Aram “the thousand.”

⁷ sn This chapter begins the final unit in the book of Daniel, consisting of chapters 10-12. The traditional chapter divisions to some extent obscure the relationship of these chapters.

⁸ tc The LXX has “first.”

⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word צָבָא (tsava’) is uncertain in this context. The word most often refers to an army or warfare. It may also mean “hard service,” and many commentators take that to be the sense here (i.e., “the service was great”). The present translation assumes the reference to be to the spiritual conflicts described, for example, in 10:16–11:1.

¹⁰ tn Heb “three weeks of days.” The inclusion of “days” here and in v. 3 is perhaps intended to call attention to the fact that these weeks are very different in nature from those of chap. 9, which are “weeks of years.”

¹¹ tn Heb “mouth.”

¹² sn Anointing oneself with oil (usually olive oil) was a common OT practice due to the severity of the Middle Eastern sun (cf. Ps 121:6). It was also associated with rejoicing (e.g., Prov 27:9) and was therefore usually not practiced during a period of mourning.

¹³ tn Heb “three weeks of days.” The inclusion of “days” here and in v. 3 is perhaps intended to call attention to the fact that these weeks are very different in nature from those of chap. 9, which are “weeks of years.”

¹⁴ sn The identity of this Darius is a major problem in correlating the biblical material with the extra-biblical records of this period. Most modern scholars treat the reference as a mistaken allusion to Darius Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.). Others have maintained instead that this name is a reference to the Persian governor Gubaru. Still others understand the reference to be to the Persian king Cyrus (cf. 6:28, where the vav (ו) may be understood as vav explicativum, meaning “even”). Under either of these latter two interpretations, the first year of Darius would have been ca. 538 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately eighty-two years old at this time.

¹⁵ tc The LXX reads “Xerxes.” This is the reading used by some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV). Most other English versions retain the Hebrew name “Ahasuerus.”

¹⁶ tc The present translation follows the MT in reading a Hophal (i.e., passive). Theodotion, the Syriac, and the Vulgate all presuppose the Hiphil (i.e., active). Even though this is the only occurrence of the Hophal of this verb in the Bible, there is no need to emend the vocalization to the Hiphil.

¹⁷ tn Heb “was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.”

¹⁸ tc This phrase, repeated from v. 1, is absent in Theodotion.

¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text has “books”; the word “sacred” has been added in the translation to clarify that it is Scriptures that are referred to.

²⁰ sn The tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters which constitute the divine Name, YHWH) appears eight times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the book of Daniel.

²¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.