Daniel 2:26

2:26 The king then asked Daniel (whose name was also Belteshazzar), “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I saw, as well as its interpretation?”

Daniel 3:17-18

3:17 If ¹  our God whom we are serving exists, ²  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well. 3:18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we don’t serve your gods, and we will not pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

Daniel 2:10

2:10 The wise men replied to the king, “There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king’s secret, ³  for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man.

Daniel 2:28

2:28 However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, ⁴  and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the times to come. ⁵  The dream and the visions you had while lying on your bed ⁶  are as follows.

Daniel 2:30

2:30 As for me, this mystery was revealed to me not because I possess more wisdom ⁷  than any other living person, but so that the king may understand ⁸  the interpretation and comprehend the thoughts of your mind. ⁹ 

Daniel 3:14

3:14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my gods and that you don’t pay homage to the golden statue that I erected?

Daniel 3:25

3:25 He answered, “But I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!” ¹⁰ 

Daniel 4:35

4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. ¹¹ 

He does as he wishes with the army of heaven

and with those who inhabit the earth.

No one slaps ¹²  his hand

and says to him, ‘What have you done?’

Daniel 5:11

5:11 There is a man in your kingdom who has within him a spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, he proved to have ¹³  insight, discernment, and wisdom like that ¹⁴  of the gods. ¹⁵  King Nebuchadnezzar your father appointed him chief of the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners. ¹⁶ 

[3:17]  ¹ tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

[3:17]  ² tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.

[2:10]  ¹ tn Aram “matter, thing.”

[2:28]  ¹ tn Aram “a revealer of mysteries.” The phrase serves as a quasi-title for God in Daniel.

[2:28]  ² tn Aram “in the latter days.”

[2:28]  ³ tn Aram “your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed.”

[2:30]  ¹ tn Aram “not for any wisdom which is in me more than [in] any living man.”

[2:30]  ² tn Aram “they might cause the king to know.” The impersonal plural is used here to refer to the role of God’s spirit in revealing the dream and its interpretation to the king. As J. A. Montgomery says, “it appropriately here veils the mysterious agency” (Daniel [ICC], 164-65).

[2:30]  ³ tn Aram “heart.”

[3:25]  ¹ sn The phrase like that of a god is in Aramaic “like that of a son of the gods.” Many patristic writers understood this phrase in a christological sense (i.e., “the Son of God”). But it should be remembered that these are words spoken by a pagan who is seeking to explain things from his own polytheistic frame of reference; for him the phrase “like a son of the gods” is equivalent to “like a divine being.”

[4:35]  ¹ tc The present translation reads כְּלָא (kÿla’), with many medieval Hebrew MSS, rather than כְּלָה (kÿlah) of BHS.

[4:35]  ² tn Aram “strikes against.”

[5:11]  ¹ tn Aram “[there were] discovered to be in him.”

[5:11]  ² tn Aram “wisdom like the wisdom.” This would be redundant in terms of English style.

[5:11]  ³ tc Theodotion lacks the phrase “and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods.”

[5:11]  ⁴ tc The MT includes a redundant reference to “your father the king” at the end of v. 11. None of the attempts to explain this phrase as original are very convincing. The present translation deletes the phrase, following Theodotion and the Syriac.