Daniel 1:3

1:3 The king commanded ¹  Ashpenaz, ²  who was in charge of his court officials, ³  to choose ⁴  some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent ⁵  –

Daniel 1:18

1:18 When the time appointed by the king arrived, ⁶  the overseer of the court officials brought them into Nebuchadnezzar’s presence.

Daniel 2:3

2:3 The king told them, “I have had a dream, ⁷  and I ⁸  am anxious to understand the dream.”

Daniel 8:21

8:21 The male goat ⁹  is the king of Greece, ¹⁰  and the large horn between its eyes is the first king.

Daniel 9:1

Daniel Prays for His People

9:1 In the first year of Darius ¹¹  son of Ahasuerus, ¹²  who was of Median descent and who had been ¹³  appointed king over the Babylonian ¹⁴  empire –

[1:3]  ¹ tn Or “gave orders to.” Heb “said to.”

[1:3]  ² sn It is possible that the word Ashpenaz is not a proper name at all, but a general term for “innkeeper.” See J. J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia), 127, n. 9. However, the ancient versions understand the term to be a name, and the present translation (along with most English versions) understands the word in this way.

[1:3]  ³ sn The word court official (Hebrew saris) need not mean “eunuch” in a technical sense (see Gen 37:36, where the term refers to Potiphar, who had a wife), although in the case of the book of Daniel there was in Jewish literature a common tradition to that effect. On the OT usage of this word see HALOT 769-70 s.v. סָרֹיס.

[1:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “bring.”

[1:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from the seed of royalty and from the nobles.”

[1:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “at the end of the days which the king said to bring them.”

[2:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I have dreamed a dream” (so KJV, ASV).

[2:3]  ¹² tn Heb “my spirit.”

[8:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the he-goat, the buck.” The expression is odd, and the second word may be an explanatory gloss.

[8:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Javan.”

[9:1]  ²¹ sn The identity of this Darius is a major problem in correlating the biblical material with the extra-biblical records of this period. Most modern scholars treat the reference as a mistaken allusion to Darius Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.). Others have maintained instead that this name is a reference to the Persian governor Gubaru. Still others understand the reference to be to the Persian king Cyrus (cf. 6:28, where the vav (ו) may be understood as vav explicativum, meaning “even”). Under either of these latter two interpretations, the first year of Darius would have been ca. 538 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately eighty-two years old at this time.

[9:1]  ²² tc The LXX reads “Xerxes.” This is the reading used by some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV). Most other English versions retain the Hebrew name “Ahasuerus.”

[9:1]  ²³ tc The present translation follows the MT in reading a Hophal (i.e., passive). Theodotion, the Syriac, and the Vulgate all presuppose the Hiphil (i.e., active). Even though this is the only occurrence of the Hophal of this verb in the Bible, there is no need to emend the vocalization to the Hiphil.

[9:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.”