“Let the name of God 19 be praised 20 forever and ever,
for wisdom and power belong to him.
2:21 He changes times and seasons,
deposing some kings
and establishing others. 21
He gives wisdom to the wise;
he imparts knowledge to those with understanding; 22
2:22 he reveals deep and hidden things.
He knows what is in the darkness,
and light resides with him.
2:23 O God of my fathers, I acknowledge and glorify you,
for you have bestowed wisdom and power on me.
Now you have enabled me to understand what I 23 requested from you.
For you have enabled me to understand the king’s dilemma.” 24
1 tn Heb “a dream we dreamed.”
2 tn The word “them” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Heb “Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you.” Joseph repeats the same expression from the first interpretation (see v. 13), but with the added words “from upon you,” which allow the statement to have a more literal and ominous meaning – the baker will be decapitated.
4 tn Heb “and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he, each according to the interpretation of his dream we dreamed.”
5 tn Or “slave.”
6 tn Heb “a servant to the captain of the guards.” On this construction see GKC 419-20 §129.c.
7 tn The words “our dreams” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8 tn Heb “and he interpreted for us our dreams, each according to his dream he interpreted.”
9 tn Heb “interpreted.”
10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the baker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Heb “not within me.”
13 tn Heb “God will answer.”
14 tn The expression שְׁלוֹם פַּרְעֹה (shÿlom par’oh) is here rendered “the welfare of Pharaoh” because the dream will be about life in his land. Some interpret it to mean an answer of “peace” – one that will calm his heart, or give him the answer that he desires (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT).
15 tn Heb “What to the straw with [in comparison with] the grain?” This idiom represents an emphatic repudiation or denial of relationship. See, for example, the usage in 2 Sam 16:10 and note BDB 553 s.v. מָה 1.d(c).
16 tn Heb “Oracle of the
17 tn Or “blessed.”
18 tn Aram “Daniel answered and said.”
19 sn As is often the case in the Bible, here the name represents the person.
20 tn Or “blessed.”
21 tn Aram “kings.”
22 tn Aram “the knowers of understanding.”
23 tn Aram “we.” Various explanations have been offered for the plural, but it is probably best understood as the editorial plural; so also with “me” later in this verse.
24 tn Aram “the word of the king.”
25 tn Aram “not for any wisdom which is in me more than [in] any living man.”
26 tn Aram “they might cause the king to know.” The impersonal plural is used here to refer to the role of God’s spirit in revealing the dream and its interpretation to the king. As J. A. Montgomery says, “it appropriately here veils the mysterious agency” (Daniel [ICC], 164-65).
27 tn Aram “heart.”
28 tc The translation reads מִפְשַׁר (mifshar) rather than the MT מְפַשַּׁר (mÿfashar) and later in the verse reads וּמִשְׁרֵא (mishre’) rather than the MT וּמְשָׁרֵא (mÿshare’). The Masoretes have understood these Aramaic forms to be participles, but they are more likely to be vocalized as infinitives. As such, they have an epexegetical function in the syntax of their clause.
29 tn Aram “to loose knots.”
30 tn Aram “let [Daniel] be summoned.”
31 tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”
32 tn Or “by crucifying him” (“hang on a tree” is by the time of the first century an idiom for crucifixion). The allusion is to the judgment against Jesus as a rebellious figure, appealing to the language of Deut 21:23. The Jewish leadership has badly “misjudged” Jesus.