Daniel 3:4-5

3:4 Then the herald ¹  made a loud ²  proclamation: “To you, O peoples, nations, and language groups, the following command is given: ³  3:5 When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, ⁴  trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must ⁵  bow down and pay homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has erected.

Daniel 3:16

3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ⁶  “We do not need to give you a reply ⁷  concerning this.

Daniel 4:9

4:9 saying, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, in whom I know there to be a spirit of the holy gods and whom no mystery baffles, consider ⁸  my dream that I saw and set forth its interpretation!

Daniel 9:8

9:8 O LORD, we have been humiliated ⁹  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you.

Daniel 9:22

9:22 He spoke with me, instructing me as follows: ¹⁰  “Daniel, I have now come to impart understanding to you.

[3:4]  ¹ tn According to BDB 1097 s.v. כָּרוֹז the Aramaic word used here is a Greek loanword, but other scholars have argued instead for a Persian derivation (HALOT 1902 s.v. *כָּרוֹז).

[3:4]  ² tn Aram “in strength.”

[3:4]  ³ tn Aram “they are saying.”

[3:5]  ⁴ sn The word zither (Aramaic קִיתָרוֹס [qitaros]), and the words for harp (Aramaic פְּסַנְתֵּרִין [pÿsanterin]) and pipes (Aramaic סוּמְפֹּנְיָה [sumponÿyah]), are of Greek derivation. Though much has been made of this in terms of suggesting a date in the Hellenistic period for the writing of the book, it is not surprising that a few Greek cultural terms, all of them the names of musical instruments, should appear in this book. As a number of scholars have pointed out, the bigger surprise (if, in fact, the book is to be dated to the Hellenistic period) may be that there are so few Greek loanwords in Daniel.

[3:5]  ⁵ tn The imperfect Aramaic verbs have here an injunctive nuance.

[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.”

[4:9]  ¹⁰ tc The present translation assumes the reading חֲזִי (khazi, “consider”) rather than the MT חֶזְוֵי (khezvey, “visions”). The MT implies that the king required Daniel to disclose both the dream and its interpretation, as in chapter 2. But in the following verses Nebuchadnezzar recounts his dream, while Daniel presents only its interpretation.

[9:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”

[9:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he instructed and spoke with me.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.