Daniel 5:28

5:28 As for peres ¹  – your kingdom is divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

Daniel 8:4

8:4 I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal ²  was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power. ³  It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly. ⁴ 

Daniel 11:2

11:2 Now I will tell you the truth.

The Angel Gives a Message to Daniel

“Three ⁵  more kings will arise for Persia. Then a fourth ⁶  king will be unusually rich, ⁷  more so than all who preceded him. When he has amassed power through his riches, he will stir up everyone against ⁸  the kingdom of Greece.

¹ sn Peres (פְּרֵס) is the singular form of פַרְסִין (pharsin) in v. 25.

² tn Or “beast” (NAB).

³ tn Heb “hand.” So also in v. 7.

⁴ tn In the Hiphil the Hebrew verb גָּדַל (gadal, “to make great; to magnify”) can have either a positive or a negative sense. For the former, used especially of God, see Ps 126:2, 3; Joel 2:21. In this chapter (8:4, 8, 11, 25) the word has a pejorative sense, describing the self-glorification of this king. The sense seems to be that of vainly assuming one’s own superiority through deliberate hubris.

⁵ sn Perhaps these three more kings are Cambyses (ca. 530-522 B.C.), Pseudo-Smerdis (ca. 522 B.C.), and Darius I Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.).

⁶ sn This fourth king is Xerxes I (ca. 486-465 B.C.). The following reference to one of his chiefs apparently has in view Seleucus Nicator.

⁷ tn Heb “rich with great riches.”

⁸ tn The text is difficult. The Hebrew has here אֶת (’et), the marker of a definite direct object. As it stands, this would suggest the meaning that “he will arouse everyone, that is, the kingdom of Greece.” The context, however, seems to suggest the idea that this Persian king will arouse in hostility against Greece the constituent elements of his own empire. This requires supplying the word “against,” which is not actually present in the Hebrew text.