Daniel 7:2

7:2 Daniel explained: ¹  “I was watching in my vision during the night as ²  the four winds of the sky ³  were stirring up the great sea. ⁴ 

Daniel 7:25

7:25 He will speak words against the Most High.

He will harass ⁵  the holy ones of the Most High continually.

His intention ⁶  will be to change times established by law. ⁷ 

They will be delivered into his hand

For a time, times, ⁸  and half a time.

[7:2]  ¹ tn Aram “answered and said.”

[7:2]  ² tn Aram “and behold.”

[7:2]  ³ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[7:2]  ⁴ sn The referent of the great sea is unclear. The common view that the expression refers to the Mediterranean Sea is conjectural.

[7:25]  ⁵ tn Aram “wear out” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB, NLT “wear down.” The word is a hapax legomenon in biblical Aramaic, but in biblical Hebrew it especially refers to wearing out such things as garments. Here it is translated “harass…continually.”

[7:25]  ⁶ tn Aram “he will think.”

[7:25]  ⁷ tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.

[7:25]  ⁸ sn Although the word times is vocalized in the MT as a plural, it probably should be regarded as a dual. The Masoretes may have been influenced here by the fact that in late Aramaic (and Syriac) the dual forms fall out of use. The meaning would thus be three and a half “times.”