Daniel 1:18

1:18 When the time appointed by the king arrived, ¹  the overseer of the court officials brought them into Nebuchadnezzar’s presence.

Daniel 2:4

2:4 The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic ² ] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its ³  interpretation.”

Daniel 2:46

2:46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed down with his face to the ground ⁴  and paid homage to Daniel. He gave orders to offer sacrifice and incense to him.

Daniel 3:13

3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in a fit of rage ⁵  demanded that they bring ⁶  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before him. So they brought them ⁷  before the king.

Daniel 3:20

3:20 He ordered strong ⁸  soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.

Daniel 4:7

4:7 When the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners entered, I recounted the dream for them. But they were unable to make known its interpretation to me.

Daniel 5:29

5:29 Then, on Belshazzar’s orders, ⁹  Daniel was clothed in purple, a golden collar was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom.

Daniel 7:1

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

7:1 In the first ¹⁰  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had ¹¹  a dream filled with visions ¹²  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. ¹³ 

Daniel 7:23

7:23 “This is what he told me: ¹⁴ 

‘The fourth beast means that there will be a fourth kingdom on earth

that will differ from all the other kingdoms.

It will devour all the earth

and will trample and crush it.

Daniel 2:24-25

2:24 Then Daniel went in to see ¹⁵  Arioch (whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon). He came ¹⁶  and said to him, “Don’t destroy the wise men of Babylon! Escort me ¹⁷  to the king, and I will disclose the interpretation to him!” ¹⁸ 

2:25 So Arioch quickly ushered Daniel into the king’s presence, saying to him, “I ¹⁹  have found a man from the captives of Judah who can make known the interpretation to the king.”

Daniel 4:9

4:9 saying, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, in whom I know there to be a spirit of the holy gods and whom no mystery baffles, consider ²⁰  my dream that I saw and set forth its interpretation!

Daniel 4:14

4:14 He called out loudly ²¹  as follows: ²² 

‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches!

Strip off its foliage

and scatter its fruit!

Let the animals flee from under it

and the birds from its branches!

Daniel 4:18

4:18 “This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare its ²³  interpretation, for none of the wise men in ²⁴  my kingdom are able to make known to me the interpretation. But you can do so, for a spirit of the holy gods is in you.”

Daniel 5:2

5:2 While under the influence ²⁵  of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father ²⁶  had confiscated ²⁷  from the temple in Jerusalem ²⁸  – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them. ²⁹ 

Daniel 6:16

6:16 So the king gave the order, ³⁰  and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den ³¹  of lions. The king consoled ³²  Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!”

Daniel 6:23

6:23 Then the king was delighted and gave an order to haul Daniel up from the den. So Daniel was hauled up out of the den. He had no injury of any kind, because he had trusted in his God.

[1:18]  ¹ tn Heb “at the end of the days which the king said to bring them.”

[2:4]  ² sn Contrary to common belief, the point here is not that the wise men (Chaldeans) replied to the king in the Aramaic language, or that this language was uniquely the language of the Chaldeans. It was this view that led in the past to Aramaic being referred to as “Chaldee.” Aramaic was used as a lingua franca during this period; its origins and usage were not restricted to the Babylonians. Rather, this phrase is better understood as an editorial note (cf. NAB) marking the fact that from 2:4b through 7:28 the language of the book shifts from Hebrew to Aramaic. In 8:1, and for the remainder of the book, the language returns to Hebrew. Various views have been advanced to account for this change of language, most of which are unconvincing. Most likely the change in language is a reflection of stages in the transmission history of the book of Daniel.

[2:4]  ³ tn Or “the.”

[2:46]  ³ tn Aram “fell on his face.”

[3:13]  ⁴ tn Aram “in anger and wrath”; NASB “in rage and anger.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[3:13]  ⁵ tn The Aramaic infinitive is active.

[3:13]  ⁶ tn Aram “these men.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid undue repetition.

[3:20]  ⁵ tn This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”

[5:29]  ⁶ tn Aram “Belshazzar spoke.”

[7:1]  ⁷ 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.

[7:1]  ⁸ tn Aram “saw.”

[7:1]  ⁹ 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.

[7:1]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”

[7:23]  ⁸ tn Aram “thus he said.”

[2:24]  ⁹ tc The MT has עַל עַל (’al ’al, “he entered upon”). Several medieval Hebrew MSS lack the verb, although this may be due to haplography.

[2:24]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX and Vulgate, along with one medieval Hebrew MS, lack this verb.

[2:24]  ¹¹ tn Aram “cause me to enter.” So also in v. 25.

[2:24]  ¹² tn Aram “the king.”

[2:25]  ¹⁰ sn Arioch’s claim is self-serving and exaggerated. It is Daniel who came to him, and not the other way around. By claiming to have found one capable of solving the king’s dilemma, Arioch probably hoped to ingratiate himself to the king.

[4:9]  ¹¹ tc The present translation assumes the reading חֲזִי (khazi, “consider”) rather than the MT חֶזְוֵי (khezvey, “visions”). The MT implies that the king required Daniel to disclose both the dream and its interpretation, as in chapter 2. But in the following verses Nebuchadnezzar recounts his dream, while Daniel presents only its interpretation.

[4:14]  ¹² tn Aram “in strength.”

[4:14]  ¹³ tn Aram “and thus he was saying.”

[4:18]  ¹³ tc The present translation reads פִּשְׁרֵהּ (pishreh, “its interpretation”) with the Qere and many medieval Hebrew MSS; the Kethib is פִּשְׁרָא (pishra’, “the interpretation”); so also v. 16.

[4:18]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “of.”

[5:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).

[5:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.

[5:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “taken.”

[5:2]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:2]  ¹⁸ sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.

[6:16]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “said.” So also in vv. 24, 25.

[6:16]  ¹⁶ sn The den was perhaps a pit below ground level which could be safely observed from above.

[6:16]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “answered and said [to Daniel].”