Discovery BoxDaniel 2:12-13
Context2:12 Because of this the king got furiously angry 1 and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 2:13 So a decree went out, and the wise men were about 2 to be executed. They also sought 3 Daniel and his friends so that they could be executed.
Daniel 2:37-45
Context2:37 “You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has granted you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. 2:38 Wherever human beings, 4 wild animals, 5 and birds of the sky live – he has given them into your power. 6 He has given you authority over them all. You are the head of gold. 2:39 Now after you another kingdom 7 will arise, one inferior to yours. Then a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule in all the earth. 2:40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom, one strong like iron. Just like iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and as iron breaks in pieces 8 all of these metals, 9 so it will break in pieces and crush the others. 10 2:41 In that you were seeing feet and toes 11 partly of wet clay 12 and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom. Some of the strength of iron will be in it, for you saw iron mixed with wet clay. 13 2:42 In that the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, the latter stages of this kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile. 2:43 And 14 in that you saw iron mixed with wet clay, so people will be mixed 15 with one another 16 without adhering to one another, just as 17 iron does not mix with clay. 2:44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever. 2:45 You saw that a stone was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands; it smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold into pieces. The great God has made known to the king what will occur in the future. 18 The dream is certain, and its interpretation is reliable.”
Daniel 3:2-7
Context3:2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent out a summons to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, 19 and all the other authorities of the province to attend the dedication of the statue that he 20 had erected. 3:3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial authorities assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. They were standing in front of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had erected. 21
3:4 Then the herald 22 made a loud 23 proclamation: “To you, O peoples, nations, and language groups, the following command is given: 24 3:5 When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, 25 trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must 26 bow down and pay homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has erected. 3:6 Whoever does not bow down and pay homage will immediately 27 be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire!” 3:7 Therefore when they all 28 heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, 29 and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations, and language groups began bowing down and paying homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected.
Daniel 3:15
Context3:15 Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?” 30
Daniel 3:19-22
Context3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and his disposition changed 31 toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders 32 to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated. 3:20 He ordered strong 33 soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 3:21 So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, 34 and were thrown into the furnace 35 of blazing fire. 3:22 But since the king’s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted 36 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed 37 by the leaping flames. 38
Daniel 5:19
Context5:19 Due to the greatness that he bestowed on him, all peoples, nations, and language groups were trembling with fear 39 before him. He killed whom he wished, he spared 40 whom he wished, he exalted whom he wished, and he brought low whom he wished.
[2:12] 1 tn Aram “was angry and very furious.” The expression is a hendiadys (two words or phrases expressing a single idea).
[2:13] 2 tn The Aramaic participle is used here to express the imminent future.
[2:13] 3 tn The impersonal active plural (“they sought”) of the Aramaic verb could also be translated as an English passive: “Daniel and his friends were sought” (cf. NAB).
[2:38] 4 tn Aram “the sons of man.”
[2:38] 5 tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”
[2:39] 7 sn The identity of the first kingdom is clearly Babylon. The identification of the following three kingdoms is disputed. The common view is that they represent Media, Persia, and Greece. Most conservative scholars identify them as Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
[2:40] 8 tc Theodotion and the Vulgate lack the phrase “and as iron breaks in pieces.”
[2:40] 9 tn The Aramaic text does not have this word, but it has been added in the translation for clarity.
[2:40] 10 tn The words “the others” are supplied from the context.
[2:41] 11 tc The LXX lacks “and toes.”
[2:41] 12 tn Aram “potter’s clay.”
[2:41] 13 tn Aram “clay of clay” (also in v. 43).
[2:43] 14 tc The present translation reads the conjunction, with most medieval Hebrew
[2:43] 15 sn The reference to people being mixed is usually understood to refer to intermarriage.
[2:43] 16 tn Aram “with the seed of men.”
[2:43] 17 tc The present translation reads הֵיךְ דִּי (hekh diy) rather than the MT הֵא־כְדִי (he’-khÿdi). It is a case of wrong word division.
[2:45] 18 tn Aram “after this.”
[3:2] 19 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.
[3:2] 20 tn Aram “Nebuchadnezzar the king.” The proper name and title have been replaced by the relative pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[3:3] 21 tc The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.”
[3:4] 22 tn According to BDB 1097 s.v. כָּרוֹז the Aramaic word used here is a Greek loanword, but other scholars have argued instead for a Persian derivation (HALOT 1902 s.v. *כָּרוֹז).
[3:4] 23 tn Aram “in strength.”
[3:4] 24 tn Aram “they are saying.”
[3:5] 25 sn The word zither (Aramaic קִיתָרוֹס [qitaros]), and the words for harp (Aramaic פְּסַנְתֵּרִין [pÿsanterin]) and pipes (Aramaic סוּמְפֹּנְיָה [sumponÿyah]), are of Greek derivation. Though much has been made of this in terms of suggesting a date in the Hellenistic period for the writing of the book, it is not surprising that a few Greek cultural terms, all of them the names of musical instruments, should appear in this book. As a number of scholars have pointed out, the bigger surprise (if, in fact, the book is to be dated to the Hellenistic period) may be that there are so few Greek loanwords in Daniel.
[3:5] 26 tn The imperfect Aramaic verbs have here an injunctive nuance.
[3:6] 27 tn Aram “in that hour.”
[3:7] 28 tn Aram “all the peoples.”
[3:7] 29 tc Though not in the Aramaic text of BHS, this word appears in many medieval Hebrew
[3:15] 30 tn Aram “hand.” So also in v. 17.
[3:19] 31 tn Aram “the appearance of his face was altered”; cf. NLT “his face became distorted with rage”; NAB “[his] face became livid with utter rage.”
[3:19] 32 tn Aram “he answered and said.”
[3:20] 33 tn This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”
[3:21] 34 sn There is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the specific nature of these items of clothing.
[3:21] 35 tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.
[3:22] 36 tn Aram “caused to go up.”
[3:22] 37 tn The Aramaic verb is active.
[3:22] 38 tn Aram “the flame of the fire” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NRSV “the raging flames.”
[5:19] 39 tn Aram “were trembling and fearing.” This can be treated as a hendiadys, “were trembling with fear.”
[5:19] 40 tn Aram “let live.” This Aramaic form is the aphel participle of חַיָה(khayah, “to live”). Theodotion and the Vulgate mistakenly take the form to be from מְחָא (mÿkha’, “to smite”).
