Daniel 2:38
Context2:38 Wherever human beings, 1 wild animals, 2 and birds of the sky live – he has given them into your power. 3 He has given you authority over them all. You are the head of gold.
Daniel 4:22
Context4:22 it is you, 4 O king! For you have become great and strong. Your greatness is such that it reaches to heaven, and your authority to the ends of the earth.
Daniel 7:4
Context7:4 “The first one was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was lifted up from the ground. It was made to stand on two feet like a human being, and a human mind 5 was given to it. 6
[2:38] 1 tn Aram “the sons of man.”
[2:38] 2 tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”
[4:22] 4 sn Much of modern scholarship views this chapter as a distortion of traditions that were originally associated with Nabonidus rather than with Nebuchadnezzar. A Qumran text, the Prayer of Nabonidus, is often cited for parallels to these events.
[7:4] 5 tn Aram “heart of a man.”
[7:4] 6 sn The identity of the first animal, derived from v. 17 and the parallels in chap. 2, is Babylon. The reference to the plucking of its wings is probably a reference to the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity (cf. chap. 4). The latter part of v. 4 then describes the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar. The other animals have traditionally been understood to represent respectively Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, although most of modern scholarship identifies them as Media, Persia, and Greece. For a biblical parallel to the mention of lion, bear, and leopard together, see Hos 13:7-8.