Daniel 7:1-2

Daniel has a Vision of Four Animals Coming up from the Sea

7:1 In the first ¹  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had ²  a dream filled with visions ³  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. ⁴  7:2 Daniel explained: ⁵  “I was watching in my vision during the night as ⁶  the four winds of the sky ⁷  were stirring up the great sea. ⁸ 

¹ sn The first year of Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 553 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 67 years old at the time of this vision.

² tn Aram “saw.”

³ tn Aram “and visions of his head.” The Aramaic is difficult here. Some scholars add a verb thought to be missing (e.g., “the visions of his head [were alarming him]”), but there is no external evidence to support such a decision and the awkwardness of the text at this point may be original.

⁴ tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”

⁵ tn Aram “answered and said.”

⁶ tn Aram “and behold.”

⁷ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

⁸ sn The referent of the great sea is unclear. The common view that the expression refers to the Mediterranean Sea is conjectural.