Daniel 4:9-10

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 ¹  my dream that I saw and set forth its interpretation! 4:10 Here are the visions of my mind ²  while I was on my bed.

While I was watching,

there was a tree in the middle of the land. ³ 

It was enormously tall. ⁴ 

Daniel 5:11-12

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 ⁵  insight, discernment, and wisdom like that ⁶  of the gods. ⁷  King Nebuchadnezzar your father appointed him chief of the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners. ⁸  5:12 Thus there was found in this man Daniel, whom the king renamed Belteshazzar, an extraordinary spirit, knowledge, and skill to interpret ⁹  dreams, solve riddles, and decipher knotty problems. ¹⁰  Now summon ¹¹  Daniel, and he will disclose the interpretation.”

Daniel 5:14

5:14 I have heard about you, how there is a spirit of the gods in you, and how you have ¹²  insight, discernment, and extraordinary wisdom.

Daniel 10:1

An Angel Appears to Daniel

10:1 ¹³ In the third ¹⁴  year of King Cyrus of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel (who was also called Belteshazzar). This message was true and concerned a great war. ¹⁵  He understood the message and gained insight by the vision.

Genesis 41:8-15

41:8 In the morning he ¹⁶  was troubled, so he called for ¹⁷  all the diviner-priests ¹⁸  of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, ¹⁹  but no one could interpret ²⁰  them for him. ²¹  41:9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I recall my failures. ²²  41:10 Pharaoh was enraged with his servants, and he put me in prison in the house of the captain of the guards – me and the chief baker. 41:11 We each had a dream one night; each of us had a dream with its own meaning. ²³  41:12 Now a young man, a Hebrew, a servant ²⁴  of the captain of the guards, ²⁵  was with us there. We told him our dreams, ²⁶  and he interpreted the meaning of each of our respective dreams for us. ²⁷  41:13 It happened just as he had said ²⁸  to us – Pharaoh ²⁹  restored me to my office, but he impaled the baker.” ³⁰ 

41:14 Then Pharaoh summoned ³¹  Joseph. So they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; he shaved himself, changed his clothes, and came before Pharaoh. 41:15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, ³²  and there is no one who can interpret ³³  it. But I have heard about you, that ³⁴  you can interpret dreams.” ³⁵ 

Numbers 12:6

12:6 The Lord ³⁶  said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, ³⁷  I the Lord ³⁸  will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.

Numbers 12:2

12:2 They ³⁹  said, “Has the Lord only ⁴⁰  spoken through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” ⁴¹  And the Lord heard it. ⁴² 

Numbers 26:5

Reuben

26:5 Reuben was the firstborn of Israel. The Reubenites: from ⁴³  Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; from Pallu, the family of the Palluites;

Ezekiel 28:3

28:3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel; ⁴⁴ 

no secret is hidden from you. ⁴⁵ 

Ezekiel 28:1

A Prophecy Against the King of Tyre

28:1 The word of the Lord came to me:

Colossians 1:7-11

1:7 You learned the gospel ⁴⁶  from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave ⁴⁷  – a ⁴⁸  faithful minister of Christ on our ⁴⁹  behalf – 1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ⁵⁰  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ⁵¹  to fill ⁵²  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ⁵³  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ⁵⁴  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ⁵⁵  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

[4:9]  ¹ 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.

[4:10]  ² tc The LXX lacks the first two words (Aram “the visions of my head”) of the Aramaic text.

[4:10]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Aram “its height was great.”

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

[5:11]  ⁶ tn Aram “wisdom like the wisdom.” This would be redundant in terms of English style.

[5:11]  ⁷ tc Theodotion lacks the phrase “and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods.”

[5:11]  ⁸ 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.

[5:12]  ⁹ tc The translation reads מִפְשַׁר (mifshar) rather than the MT מְפַשַּׁר (mÿfashar) and later in the verse reads וּמִשְׁרֵא (mishre’) rather than the MT וּמְשָׁרֵא (mÿshare’). The Masoretes have understood these Aramaic forms to be participles, but they are more likely to be vocalized as infinitives. As such, they have an epexegetical function in the syntax of their clause.

[5:12]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “to loose knots.”

[5:12]  ¹¹ tn Aram “let [Daniel] be summoned.”

[5:14]  ¹² tn Aram “there has been found in you.”

[10:1]  ¹³ sn This chapter begins the final unit in the book of Daniel, consisting of chapters 10-12. The traditional chapter divisions to some extent obscure the relationship of these chapters.

[10:1]  ¹⁴ tc The LXX has “first.”

[10:1]  ¹⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word צָבָא (tsava’) is uncertain in this context. The word most often refers to an army or warfare. It may also mean “hard service,” and many commentators take that to be the sense here (i.e., “the service was great”). The present translation assumes the reference to be to the spiritual conflicts described, for example, in 10:16–11:1.

[41:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his spirit.”

[41:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he sent and called,” which indicates an official summons.

[41:8]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term חַרְטֹם (khartom) is an Egyptian loanword (hyr-tp) that describes a class of priests who were skilled in such interpretations.

[41:8]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text has the singular (though the Samaritan Pentateuch reads the plural). If retained, the singular must be collective for the set of dreams. Note the plural pronoun “them,” referring to the dreams, in the next clause. However, note that in v. 15 Pharaoh uses the singular to refer to the two dreams. In vv. 17-24 Pharaoh seems to treat the dreams as two parts of one dream (see especially v. 22).

[41:8]  ²⁰ tn “there was no interpreter.”

[41:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “for Pharaoh.” The pronoun “him” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:9]  ²² tn Heb “sins, offenses.” He probably refers here to the offenses that landed him in prison (see 40:1).

[41:11]  ²³ tn Heb “and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he, each according to the interpretation of his dream we dreamed.”

[41:12]  ²⁴ tn Or “slave.”

[41:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a servant to the captain of the guards.” On this construction see GKC 419-20 §129.c.

[41:12]  ²⁶ tn The words “our dreams” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he interpreted for us our dreams, each according to his dream he interpreted.”

[41:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “interpreted.”

[41:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[41:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the baker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[41:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “and Pharaoh sent and called,” indicating a summons to the royal court.

[41:15]  ³² tn Heb “dreamed a dream.”

[41:15]  ³³ tn Heb “there is no one interpreting.”

[41:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “saying.”

[41:15]  ³⁵ tn Heb “you hear a dream to interpret it,” which may mean, “you only have to hear a dream to be able to interpret it.”

[12:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “he.”

[12:6]  ³⁷ tn The form of this construction is rare: נְבִיאֲכֶם (nÿvi’akhem) would normally be rendered “your prophet.” The singular noun is suffixed with a plural pronominal suffix. Some commentators think the MT has condensed “a prophet” with “to you.”

[12:6]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew syntax is difficult here. “The Lord” is separated from the verb by two intervening prepositional phrases. Some scholars conclude that this word belongs with the verb at the beginning of v. 6 (“And the Lord spoke”).

[12:2]  ³⁹ tn Now the text changes to use a plural form of the verb. The indication is that Miriam criticized the marriage, and then the two of them raised questions about his sole leadership of the nation.

[12:2]  ⁴⁰ tn The use of both רַק and אַךְ (raq and ’akh) underscore the point that the issue is Moses’ uniqueness.

[12:2]  ⁴¹ tn There is irony in the construction in the text. The expression “speak through us” also uses דִּבֵּר + בְּ(dibber + bÿ). They ask if God has not also spoken through them, after they have spoken against Moses. Shortly God will speak against them – their words are prophetic, but not as they imagined.

[12:2]  ⁴² sn The statement is striking. Obviously the Lord knows all things. But the statement of the obvious here is meant to indicate that the Lord was about to do something about this.

[26:5]  ⁴³ tc The Hebrew text has no preposition here, but one has been supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. vv. 23, 30, 31, 32.

[28:3]  ⁴⁴ sn Or perhaps “Danel” (so TEV), referring to a ruler known from Canaanite legend. See the note on “Daniel” in 14:14. A reference to Danel (preserved in legend at Ugarit, near the northern end of the Phoenician coast) makes more sense here when addressing Tyre than in 14:14.

[28:3]  ⁴⁵ sn The tone here is sarcastic, reflecting the ruler’s view of himself.

[1:7]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “learned it.” The Greek text simply has “you learned” without the reference to “the gospel,” but “the gospel” is supplied to clarify the sense of the clause. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[1:7]  ⁴⁷ tn The Greek word translated “fellow slave” is σύνδουλος (sundoulo"); the σύν- prefix here denotes association. Though δοῦλος is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:7]  ⁴⁸ tn The Greek text has “who (ὅς, Jos) is a faithful minister.” The above translation conveys the antecedent of the relative pronoun quite well and avoids the redundancy with the following substantival participle of v. 8, namely, “who told” (ὁ δηλώσας, Jo dhlwsa").

[1:7]  ⁴⁹ tc ‡ Judging by the superior witnesses for the first person pronoun ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “us”; Ì⁴⁶ א* A B D* F G 326* 1505 al) vs. the second person pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “you”; found in א² C D¹ Ψ 075 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co), ἡμῶν should be regarded as original. Although it is possible that ἡμῶν was an early alteration of ὑμῶν (either unintentionally, as dittography, since it comes seventeen letters after the previous ἡμῶν; or intentionally, to conform to the surrounding first person pronouns), this supposition is difficult to maintain in light of the varied and valuable witnesses for this reading. Further, the second person is both embedded in the verb ἐμάθετε (emaqete) and is explicit in v. 8 (ὑμῶν). Hence, the motivation to change to the first person pronoun is counterbalanced by such evidence. The second person pronoun may have been introduced unintentionally via homoioarcton with the ὑπέρ (Juper) that immediately precedes it. As well, the second person reading is somewhat harder for it seems to address Epaphras’ role only in relation to Paul and his colleagues, rather than in relation to the Colossians. Nevertheless, the decision must be based ultimately on external evidence (because the internal evidence can be variously interpreted), and this strongly supports ἡμῶν.

[1:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ⁵¹ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ⁵² tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:10]  ⁵³ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ⁵⁴ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[1:11]  ⁵⁵ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.