Daniel 5:2

5:2 While under the influence ¹  of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father ²  had confiscated ³  from the temple in Jerusalem ⁴  – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them. ⁵ 

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 ⁶  insight, discernment, and wisdom like that ⁷  of the gods. ⁸  King Nebuchadnezzar your father appointed him chief of the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners. ⁹ 

Daniel 5:18

5:18 As for you, O king, the most high God bestowed on your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty. ¹⁰ 

[5:2]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).

[5:2]  ² tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.

[5:2]  ³ tn Or “taken.”

[5:2]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:2]  ⁵ sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.

[5:11]  ⁶ tn Aram “[there were] discovered to be in him.”

[5:11]  ⁷ tn Aram “wisdom like the wisdom.” This would be redundant in terms of English style.

[5:11]  ⁸ tc Theodotion lacks the phrase “and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods.”

[5:11]  ⁹ 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.

[5:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “royal greatness and majestic honor,” if the four terms are understood as a double hendiadys.