Daniel 11:32

11:32 Then with smooth words he will defile ¹  those who have rejected ²  the covenant. But the people who are loyal to ³  their God will act valiantly. ⁴ 

Daniel 1:2

1:2 Now the Lord ⁵  delivered ⁶  King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, ⁷  along with some of the vessels ⁸  of the temple of God. ⁹  He brought them to the land of Babylonia ¹⁰  to the temple of his god ¹¹  and put ¹²  the vessels in the treasury of his god.

[11:32]  ¹ tn Or “corrupt.”

[11:32]  ² tn Heb “acted wickedly toward.”

[11:32]  ³ tn Heb “know.” The term “know” sometimes means “to recognize.” In relational contexts it can have the connotation “recognize the authority of, be loyal to,” as it does here.

[11:32]  ⁴ sn This is an allusion to the Maccabean revolt, which struggled to bring about Jewish independence in the second century B.C.

[1:2]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[1:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “gave.”

[1:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “hand,” which is often used idiomatically for one’s power and authority. See BDB 390 s.v. יָד 2.

[1:2]  ⁸ tn Or “utensils”; or “articles.”

[1:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “house of God.”

[1:2]  ¹⁰ sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1, 9; Josh 7:21; Isa 11:11; Zech 5:11).

[1:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “gods” (NCV, NRSV, TEV; also later in this verse). The Hebrew term can be used as a numerical plural for many gods or as a plural of majesty for one particular god. Since Nebuchadnezzar was a polytheist, it is not clear if the reference here is to many gods or one particular deity. The plural of majesty, while normally used for Israel’s God, is occasionally used of foreign gods (cf. BDB 43 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 1, 2). See Judg 11:24 (of the Moabite god Chemosh); 1 Sam 5:7 (of the Philistine god Dagon); 1 Kgs 11:33 (of the Canaanite goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom); 2 Kgs 19:37 (of the Assyrian god Nisroch). Since gods normally had their own individual temples, Dan 1:2 probably refers to a particular deity, perhaps Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon, or Marduk’s son Nabu, after whom Nebuchadnezzar was named. The name Nebuchadnezzar means “Nabu has protected the son who will inherit” (HALOT 660 s.v. נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר). For a discussion of how temples functioned in Babylonian religion see H. Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near East, 77-81.

[1:2]  ¹² tn Heb “brought.” Though the Hebrew verb “brought” is repeated in this verse, the translation uses “brought…put” for stylistic variation.