Daniel 10:2

10:2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three whole weeks. ¹ 

Daniel 8:2

8:2 In this ²  vision I saw myself in Susa ³  the citadel, ⁴  which is located in the province of Elam. In the vision I saw myself at the Ulai Canal. ⁵ 

Daniel 10:4

10:4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month ⁶  I was beside the great river, the Tigris. ⁷ 

Daniel 10:9

10:9 I listened to his voice, ⁸  and as I did so ⁹  I fell into a trance-like sleep with my face to the ground.

Daniel 8:5

8:5 While I was contemplating all this, ¹⁰  a male goat ¹¹  was coming from the west over the surface of all the land ¹²  without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn ¹³  between its eyes.

[10:2]  ¹ tn Heb “three weeks of days.” The inclusion of “days” here and in v. 3 is perhaps intended to call attention to the fact that these weeks are very different in nature from those of chap. 9, which are “weeks of years.”

[8:2]  ² tn Heb “the.”

[8:2]  ³ sn Susa (Heb. שׁוּשַׁן, shushan), located some 230 miles (380 km) east of Babylon, was a winter residence for Persian kings during the Achaemenid period. The language of v. 2 seems to suggest that Daniel may not have been physically present at Susa, but only saw himself there in the vision. However, the Hebrew is difficult, and some have concluded that the first four words of v. 2 in the MT are a later addition (cf. Theodotion).

[8:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word בִּירָה (birah, “castle, palace”) usually refers to a fortified structure within a city, but here it is in apposition to the city name Susa and therefore has a broader reference to the entire city (against this view, however, see BDB 108 s.v. 2). Cf. NAB “the fortress of Susa”; TEV “the walled city of Susa.”

[8:2]  ⁵ tn The term אוּבַל (’uval = “stream, river”) is a relatively rare word in biblical Hebrew, found only here and in vv. 3 and 6. The Ulai was apparently a sizable artificial canal in Susa (cf. NASB, NIV, NCV), and not a river in the ordinary sense of that word.

[10:4]  ³ sn The first month would be the month of Nisan, during which Passover was observed.

[10:4]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has חִדָּקֶל (hiddaqel). “Tigris” appears here in the LXX, since it is the Greek name for this river. Elsewhere in the OT “the great river” refers to the Euphrates (e.g., Gen 15:18; Josh 1:4), leading some interpreters to think that a mistake is involved in using the expression to refer to the Tigris. But it is doubtful that the expression had such a fixed and limited usage. The Syriac, however, does render the word here by “Euphrates” (Syr. perat) in keeping with biblical usage elsewhere.

[10:9]  ⁴ tc Heb “I heard the sound of his words.” These words are absent in the LXX and the Syriac.

[10:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “as I listened to the sound of his words.”

[8:5]  ⁵ tn The words “all this” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[8:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “and behold, a he-goat of the goats.”

[8:5]  ⁷ tn Or “of the whole earth” (NAB, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[8:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “a horn of vision” [or “conspicuousness”], i.e., “a conspicuous horn,” one easily seen.