Daniel 2:15

2:15 He inquired of Arioch the king’s deputy, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” ¹  Then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter.

Daniel 2:18

2:18 He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he ²  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 2:29

2:29 “As for you, O king, while you were in your bed your thoughts turned to future things. ³  The revealer of mysteries has made known to you what will take place.

Daniel 2:34

2:34 You were watching as ⁴  a stone was cut out, ⁵  but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces.

Daniel 2:46

2:46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed down with his face to the ground ⁶  and paid homage to Daniel. He gave orders to offer sacrifice and incense to him.

Daniel 2:49

2:49 And at Daniel’s request, the king ⁷  appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon. Daniel himself served in the king’s court. ⁸ 

Daniel 3:16

3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ⁹  “We do not need to give you a reply ¹⁰  concerning this.

Daniel 4:10

4:10 Here are the visions of my mind ¹¹  while I was on my bed.

While I was watching,

there was a tree in the middle of the land. ¹² 

It was enormously tall. ¹³ 

Daniel 4:13

4:13 While I was watching in my mind’s visions ¹⁴  on my bed,

a holy sentinel ¹⁵  came down from heaven.

Daniel 4:16

4:16 Let his mind ¹⁶  be altered from that of a human being,

and let an animal’s mind be given to him,

and let seven periods of time ¹⁷  go by for ¹⁸  him.

Daniel 4:24

4:24 this is the interpretation, O king! It is the decision of the Most High that this has happened to my lord the king.

Daniel 6:1

Daniel is Thrown into a Lions’ Den

6:1 It seemed like a good idea to Darius ¹⁹  to appoint over the kingdom 120 satraps ²⁰  who would be in charge of the entire kingdom.

Daniel 6:5-6

6:5 So these men concluded, ²¹  “We won’t find any pretext against this man Daniel unless it is ²²  in connection with the law of his God.”

6:6 So these supervisors and satraps came by collusion ²³  to the king and said ²⁴  to him, “O King Darius, live forever!

Daniel 6:17-18

6:17 Then a stone was brought and placed over the opening ²⁵  to the den. The king sealed ²⁶  it with his signet ring and with those ²⁷  of his nobles so that nothing could be changed with regard to Daniel. 6:18 Then the king departed to his palace. But he spent the night without eating, and no diversions ²⁸  were brought to him. He was unable to sleep. ²⁹ 

Daniel 7:1

Daniel has a Vision of Four Animals Coming up from the Sea

7:1 In the first ³⁰  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had ³¹  a dream filled with visions ³²  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. ³³ 

Daniel 7:28

7:28 “This is the conclusion of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts troubled me greatly, and the color drained from my face. ³⁴  But I kept the matter to myself.” ³⁵ 

[2:15]  ¹ tn The Aramaic word מְהַחְצְפָה (mÿhakhtsÿfah) may refer to the severity of the king’s decree (i.e., “harsh”; so HALOT 1879 s.v. חצף; BDB 1093 s.v. חֲצַף), although it would seem that in a delicate situation such as this Daniel would avoid this kind of criticism of the king’s actions. The translation above understands the word to refer to the immediacy, not harshness, of the decree. See further, F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 50, §116; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 67.

[2:18]  ² tn Aram “Daniel.” The proper name is redundant here in English, and has not been included in the translation.

[2:29]  ³ tn Aram “your thoughts upon your bed went up to what will be after this.”

[2:34]  ⁴ tn Aram “until.”

[2:34]  ⁵ tc The LXX, Theodotion, and the Vulgate have “from a mountain,” though this is probably a harmonization with v. 45.

[2:46]  ⁵ tn Aram “fell on his face.”

[2:49]  ⁶ tn Aram “and Daniel sought from the king and he appointed.”

[2:49]  ⁷ tn Aram “was at the gate of the king.”

[3:16]  ⁷ tc In the MT this word is understood to begin the following address (“answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar’”). However, it seems unlikely that Nebuchadnezzar’s subordinates would address the king in such a familiar way, particularly in light of the danger that they now found themselves in. The present translation implies moving the atnach from “king” to “Nebuchadnezzar.”

[3:16]  ⁸ tn Aram “to return a word to you.”

[4:10]  ⁸ tc The LXX lacks the first two words (Aram “the visions of my head”) of the Aramaic text.

[4:10]  ⁹ tn Instead of “in the middle of the land,” some English versions render this phrase “a tree at the center of the earth” (NRSV); NAB, CEV “of the world”; NLT “in the middle of the earth.” The Hebrew phrase can have either meaning.

[4:10]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “its height was great.”

[4:13]  ⁹ tn Aram “the visions of my head.”

[4:13]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “a watcher and a holy one.” The expression is a hendiadys; so also in v. 23. This “watcher” is apparently an angel. The Greek OT (LXX) in fact has ἄγγελος (angelo", “angel”) here. Theodotion simply transliterates the Aramaic word (’ir). The term is sometimes rendered “sentinel” (NAB) or “messenger” (NIV, NLT).

[4:16]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “its heart.” The metaphor of the tree begins to fade here and the reality behind the symbol (the king) begins to emerge.

[4:16]  ¹¹ sn The seven periods of time probably refer to seven years.

[4:16]  ¹² tn Aram “over” (also in vv. 23, 25, 32).

[6:1]  ¹¹ tn Aram “It was pleasing before Darius.”

[6:1]  ¹² tn This is a technical term for an official placed in charge of a region of the empire (cf. KJV, NLT “prince[s]”; NCV, TEV “governors”). These satraps were answerable to a supervisor, who in turn answered to Darius.

[6:5]  ¹² tn Aram “were saying.”

[6:5]  ¹³ tn Aram “unless we find [it] against him.”

[6:6]  ¹³ tn The Aramaic verb רְגַשׁ (rÿgash) occurs three times in this chapter (vv. 7, 12, 16). Its meaning is widely disputed by commentators, and the versions vary considerably in how they render the word. The suggestion that it means “to come thronging” (BDB 1112 s.v.; cf. NAB) seems inappropriate, since it is unlikely that subordinates would enter a royal court in such a reckless fashion. The ancient versions struggled with the word and are not in agreement in their understanding of its meaning. In this chapter the word apparently means to act in agreement with other parties in the pursuit of a duplicitous goal, namely the entrapment of Daniel. Cf. NIV, NCV “went as a group”; NRSV “conspired and came to the king.”

[6:6]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “thus they were saying.”

[6:17]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “mouth.”

[6:17]  ¹⁵ sn The purpose of the den being sealed was to prevent unauthorized tampering with the opening of the den. Any disturbance of the seal would immediately alert the officials to improper activity of this sort.

[6:17]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “the signet rings.”

[6:18]  ¹⁵ tn The meaning of Aramaic דַּחֲוָה (dakhavah) is a crux interpretum. Suggestions include “music,” “dancing girls,” “concubines,” “table,” “food” – all of which are uncertain. The translation employed here, suggested by earlier scholars, is deliberately vague. A number of recent English versions follow a similar approach with “entertainment” (e.g., NASB, NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT). On this word see further, HALOT 1849-50 s.v.; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 37.

[6:18]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “his sleep fled from him.”

[7:1]  ¹⁶ sn The first year of Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 553 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 67 years old at the time of this vision.

[7:1]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “saw.”

[7:1]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “and visions of his head.” The Aramaic is difficult here. Some scholars add a verb thought to be missing (e.g., “the visions of his head [were alarming him]”), but there is no external evidence to support such a decision and the awkwardness of the text at this point may be original.

[7:1]  ¹⁹ tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”

[7:28]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “my brightness was changing on me.”

[7:28]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “in my heart.”