Daniel 3:3

3:3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial authorities assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. They were standing in front of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had erected. ¹ 

Daniel 5:5

5:5 At that very moment the fingers of a human hand appeared ²  and wrote on the plaster of the royal palace wall, opposite the lampstand. ³  The king was watching the back ⁴  of the hand that was writing.

Daniel 5:10

5:10 Due to the noise ⁵  caused by the king and his nobles, the queen mother ⁶  then entered the banquet room. She ⁷  said, “O king, live forever! Don’t be alarmed! Don’t be shaken!

[3:3]  ¹ tc The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.”

[5:5]  ² tn Aram “came forth.”

[5:5]  ³ sn The mention of the lampstand in this context is of interest because it suggests that the writing was in clear view.

[5:5]  ⁴ tn While Aramaic פַּס (pas) can mean the palm of the hand, here it seems to be the back of the hand that is intended.

[5:10]  ³ tn Aram “words of the king.”

[5:10]  ⁴ tn Aram “the queen” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). In the following discourse this woman is able to recall things about Daniel that go back to the days of Nebuchadnezzar, things that Belshazzar does not seem to recollect. It is likely that she was the wife not of Belshazzar but of Nabonidus or perhaps even Nebuchadnezzar. In that case, “queen” here means “queen mother” (cf. NCV “the king’s mother”).

[5:10]  ⁵ tn Aram “The queen.” The translation has used the pronoun “she” instead because repetition of the noun here would be redundant in terms of English style.