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 1:7

1:7 But the overseer of the court officials renamed them. He gave ⁶  Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah he named Shadrach, Mishael he named Meshach, and Azariah he named Abednego. ⁷ 

Daniel 2:42

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.

Daniel 5:6

5:6 Then all the color drained from the king’s face ⁸  and he became alarmed. ⁹  The joints of his hips gave way, ¹⁰  and his knees began knocking together.

Daniel 6:2

6:2 Over them would be three supervisors, one of whom was Daniel. These satraps were accountable ¹¹  to them, so that the king’s interests might not incur damage.

[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.”

[1:7]  ⁶ tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.

[1:7]  ⁷ sn The meanings of the Babylonian names are more conjectural than is the case with the Hebrew names. The probable etymologies are as follows: Belteshazzar means “protect his life,” although the MT vocalization may suggest “Belti, protect the king” (cf. Dan 4:8); Shadrach perhaps means “command of Aku”; Meshach is of uncertain meaning; Abednego means “servant of Nego.” Assigning Babylonian names to the Hebrew youths may have been an attempt to erase from their memory their Israelite heritage.

[5:6]  ¹¹ tn Aram “[the king’s] brightness changed for him.”

[5:6]  ¹² tn Aram “his thoughts were alarming him.”

[5:6]  ¹³ tn Aram “his loins went slack.”

[6:2]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “giving an account.”