Daniel 2:5-6

2:5 The king replied ¹  to the wise men, “My decision is firm. ²  If you do not inform me of both the dream and its interpretation, you will be dismembered ³  and your homes reduced to rubble! 2:6 But if you can disclose the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts, a reward, and considerable honor. So disclose to me the dream and its interpretation!”

Daniel 2:15

2:15 He inquired of Arioch the king’s deputy, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” ⁴  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 ⁵  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 2:20

2:20 saying, ⁶ 

“Let the name of God ⁷  be praised ⁸  forever and ever,

for wisdom and power belong to him.

Daniel 2:39

2:39 Now after you another kingdom ⁹  will arise, one inferior to yours. Then a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule in all the earth.

Daniel 2:49

2:49 And at Daniel’s request, the king ¹⁰  appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon. Daniel himself served in the king’s court. ¹¹ 

Daniel 4:6

4:6 So I issued an order ¹²  for all the wise men of Babylon to be brought ¹³  before me so that they could make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

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 4:26

4:26 They said to leave the taproot of the tree, for your kingdom will be restored to you when you come to understand that heaven ¹⁹  rules.

Daniel 6:27

6:27 He rescues and delivers

and performs signs and wonders

in the heavens and on the earth.

He has rescued Daniel from the power ²⁰  of the lions!”

Daniel 7:23

7:23 “This is what he told me: ²¹ 

‘The fourth beast means that there will be a fourth kingdom on earth

that will differ from all the other kingdoms.

It will devour all the earth

and will trample and crush it.

[2:5]  ¹ tn Aram “answered and said,” a common idiom to indicate a reply, but redundant in contemporary English.

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

[2:15]  ⁴ 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]  ⁷ tn Aram “Daniel.” The proper name is redundant here in English, and has not been included in the translation.

[2:20]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “Daniel answered and said.”

[2:20]  ¹¹ sn As is often the case in the Bible, here the name represents the person.

[2:20]  ¹² tn Or “blessed.”

[2:39]  ¹³ sn The identity of the first kingdom is clearly Babylon. The identification of the following three kingdoms is disputed. The common view is that they represent Media, Persia, and Greece. Most conservative scholars identify them as Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

[2:49]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “and Daniel sought from the king and he appointed.”

[2:49]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “was at the gate of the king.”

[4:6]  ¹⁹ tn Aram “from me there was placed a decree.”

[4:6]  ²⁰ tn The Aramaic infinitive here is active.

[4:13]  ²² tn Aram “the visions of my head.”

[4:13]  ²³ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ sn The seven periods of time probably refer to seven years.

[4:16]  ²⁷ tn Aram “over” (also in vv. 23, 25, 32).

[4:26]  ²⁸ sn The reference to heaven here is a circumlocution for God. There was a tendency in Jewish contexts to avoid direct reference to God. Cf. the expression “kingdom of heaven” in the NT and such statements as “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight” (Luke 15:21).

[6:27]  ³¹ tn Aram “hand.”

[7:23]  ³⁴ tn Aram “thus he said.”