Daniel 1:8

1:8 But Daniel made up his mind ¹  that he would not defile ²  himself with the royal delicacies or the royal wine. ³  He therefore asked the overseer of the court officials for permission not to defile himself.

Daniel 2:5

2:5 The king replied ⁴  to the wise men, “My decision is firm. ⁵  If you do not inform me of both the dream and its interpretation, you will be dismembered ⁶  and your homes reduced to rubble!

Daniel 11:5

11:5 “Then the king of the south ⁷  and one of his subordinates ⁸  will grow strong. His subordinate ⁹  will resist ¹⁰  him and will rule a kingdom greater than his. ¹¹ 

[1:8]  ¹ tn Heb “placed on his heart.”

[1:8]  ² tn Or “would not make himself ceremonially unclean”; TEV “become ritually unclean.”

[1:8]  ³ tn Heb “with the delicacies of the king and with the wine of his drinking.”

[2:5]  ⁴ tn Aram “answered and said,” a common idiom to indicate a reply, but redundant in contemporary English.

[2:5]  ⁵ tn It seems clear from what follows that Nebuchadnezzar clearly recalls the content of the dream, although obviously he does not know what to make of it. By not divulging the dream itself to the would-be interpreters, he intends to find out whether they are simply leading him on. If they can tell him the dream’s content, which he is able to verify, he then can have confidence in their interpretation, which is what eludes him. The translation “the matter is gone from me” (cf. KJV, ASV), suggesting that the king had simply forgotten the dream, is incorrect. The Aramaic word used here (אַזְדָּא, ’azda’) is probably of Persian origin; it occurs in the OT only here and in v. 8. There are two main possibilities for the meaning of the word: “the matter is promulgated by me” (see KBL 1048 s.v.) and therefore “publicly known” (cf. NRSV; F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 62-63, §189), or “the matter is irrevocable” (cf. NAB, NIV, TEV, CEV, NLT; HALOT 1808 s.v. אזד; cf. also BDB 1079 s.v.). The present translation reflects this latter option. See further E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 3.

[2:5]  ⁶ tn Aram “made limbs.” Cf. 3:29.

[11:5]  ⁷ sn The king of the south is Ptolemy I Soter (ca. 323-285 B.C.). The following reference to one of his subordinates apparently has in view Seleucus I Nicator (ca. 311-280 B.C.). Throughout the remainder of chap. 11 the expressions “king of the south” and “king of the north” repeatedly occur. It is clear, however, that these terms are being used generically to describe the Ptolemaic king (i.e., “of the south”) or the Seleucid king (i.e., “of the north”) who happens to be in power at any particular time. The specific identity of these kings can be established more or less successfully by a comparison of this chapter with the available extra-biblical records that discuss the history of the intertestamental period. In the following notes the generally accepted identifications are briefly mentioned.

[11:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “princes.”

[11:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the subordinate prince mentioned in the previous clause) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “be strong against.”

[11:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “greater than his kingdom.”