125:3 Indeed, 1 the scepter of a wicked king 2 will not settle 3
upon the allotted land of the godly.
Otherwise the godly might
do what is wrong. 4
15:21 “I will deliver you from the power of the wicked.
I will free you from the clutches of violent people.”
3:28 Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, 5 “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel 6 and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring 7 the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than 8 serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!
6:27 He rescues and delivers
and performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel from the power 9 of the lions!”
2:10 The wise men replied to the king, “There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king’s secret, 14 for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man. 2:11 What the king is asking is too difficult, and no one exists who can disclose it to the king, except for the gods – but they don’t live among mortals!” 15
2:12 Because of this the king got furiously angry 16 and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
3:1 19 King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden 20 statue made. 21 It was ninety feet 22 tall and nine feet 23 wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
1 tn Or “for.”
2 tn Heb “a scepter of wickedness.” The “scepter” symbolizes royal authority; when collocated with “wickedness” the phrase refers to an oppressive foreign conqueror.
3 tn Or “rest.”
4 tn Heb “so that the godly might not stretch out their hands in wrongdoing.” A wicked king who sets a sinful example can have an adverse moral and ethical effect on the people he rules.
5 tn Aram “answered and said.”
6 sn The king identifies the “son of the gods” (v. 25) as an angel. Comparable Hebrew expressions are used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible for the members of God’s angelic assembly (see Gen 6:2, 4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Pss 29:1; 89:6). An angel later comes to rescue Daniel from the lions (Dan 6:22).
7 tn Aram “they changed” or “violated.”
8 tn Aram “so that they might not.”
9 tn Aram “hand.”
10 tn Aram “giving an account.”
11 tn Aram “one is your law,” i.e., only one thing is applicable to you.
12 tn Aram “a lying and corrupt word.”
13 tn Aram “I will know.”
14 tn Aram “matter, thing.”
15 tn Aram “whose dwelling is not with flesh.”
16 tn Aram “was angry and very furious.” The expression is a hendiadys (two words or phrases expressing a single idea).
17 sn The specific duties of the seven types of officials listed here (cf. vv. 3, 27) are unclear. The Aramaic words that are used are transliterations of Akkadian or Persian technical terms whose exact meanings are uncertain. The translations given here follow suggestions set forth in BDB.
18 tn Aram “Nebuchadnezzar the king.” The proper name and title have been replaced by the relative pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
19 sn The LXX introduces this chapter with the following chronological note: “in the eighteenth year of.” Such a date would place these events at about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586
20 sn There is no need to think of Nebuchadnezzar’s image as being solid gold. No doubt the sense is that it was overlaid with gold (cf. Isa 40:19; Jer 10:3-4), with the result that it presented a dazzling self-compliment to the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar’s achievements.
21 sn According to a number of patristic authors, the image represented a deification of Nebuchadnezzar himself. This is not clear from the biblical text, however.
22 tn Aram “sixty cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 90 feet (27.4 m) high.
23 tn Aram “six cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 9 feet (2.74 m) wide.
24 tn Or “royal greatness and majestic honor,” if the four terms are understood as a double hendiadys.
25 tn Grk “it”; the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 tn The prepositional phrase “since the foundation of the world” is traditionally translated as a modifier of the immediately preceding phrase in the Greek text, “the Lamb who was killed” (so also G. B. Caird, Revelation [HNTC], 168), but it is more likely that the phrase “since the foundation of the world” modifies the verb “written” (as translated above). Confirmation of this can be found in Rev 17:8 where the phrase “written in the book of life since the foundation of the world” occurs with no ambiguity.
27 tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”