Daniel 7:8

7:8 “As I was contemplating the horns, another horn – a small one – came up between them, and three of the former horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. ¹  This horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant ²  things.

Daniel 7:20

7:20 I also wanted to know ³  the meaning of the ten horns on its head, and of that other horn which came up and before which three others fell. This was the horn that had eyes ⁴  and a mouth speaking arrogant things, whose appearance was more formidable than the others. ⁵ 

Daniel 8:9-12

8:9 From one of them came a small horn. ⁶  But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ⁷  8:10 It grew so big it reached the army ⁸  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ⁹  to the ground, where it trampled them. 8:11 It also acted arrogantly against the Prince of the army, ¹⁰  from whom ¹¹  the daily sacrifice was removed and whose sanctuary ¹²  was thrown down. 8:12 The army was given over, ¹³  along with the daily sacrifice, in the course of his sinful rebellion. ¹⁴  It hurled ¹⁵  truth ¹⁶  to the ground and enjoyed success. ¹⁷ 

Daniel 11:36

11:36 “Then the king ¹⁸  will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every deity and he will utter presumptuous things against the God of gods. He will succeed until the time of ¹⁹  wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must occur. ²⁰ 

Daniel 11:2

11:2 Now I will tell you the truth.

The Angel Gives a Message to Daniel

“Three ²¹  more kings will arise for Persia. Then a fourth ²²  king will be unusually rich, ²³  more so than all who preceded him. When he has amassed power through his riches, he will stir up everyone against ²⁴  the kingdom of Greece.

Daniel 2:3-10

2:3 The king told them, “I have had a dream, ²⁵  and I ²⁶  am anxious to understand the dream.” 2:4 The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic ²⁷ ] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its ²⁸  interpretation.” 2:5 The king replied ²⁹  to the wise men, “My decision is firm. ³⁰  If you do not inform me of both the dream and its interpretation, you will be dismembered ³¹  and your homes reduced to rubble! 2:6 But if you can disclose the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts, a reward, and considerable honor. So disclose to me the dream and its interpretation!” 2:7 They again replied, “Let the king inform us ³²  of the dream; then we will disclose its ³³  interpretation.” 2:8 The king replied, “I know for sure that you are attempting to gain time, because you see that my decision is firm. 2:9 If you don’t inform me of the dream, there is only one thing that is going to happen to you. ³⁴  For you have agreed among yourselves to report to me something false and deceitful ³⁵  until such time as things might change. So tell me the dream, and I will have confidence ³⁶  that you can disclose its interpretation.”

2:10 The wise men replied to the king, “There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king’s secret, ³⁷  for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man.

Daniel 2:1

Nebuchadnezzar Has a Disturbing Dream

2:1 In the second year of his ³⁸  reign Nebuchadnezzar had many dreams. ³⁹  His mind ⁴⁰  was disturbed and he suffered from insomnia. ⁴¹ 

Daniel 4:1-3

4:1 (3:31) ⁴²  “King Nebuchadnezzar, to all peoples, nations, and language groups that live in all the land: Peace and prosperity! ⁴³  4:2 I am delighted to tell you about the signs and wonders that the most high God has done for me.

4:3 “How great are his signs!

How mighty are his wonders!

His kingdom will last forever, ⁴⁴ 

and his authority continues from one generation to the next.”

[7:8]  ¹ tn Aram “were uprooted from before it.”

[7:8]  ² tn Aram “great.” So also in vv. 11, 20.

[7:20]  ³ tn The words “I also wanted to know” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:20]  ⁴ tc The conjunction in the MT before “eyes” is odd. The ancient versions do not seem to presuppose it.

[7:20]  ⁵ tn Aram “greater than its companions.”

[8:9]  ⁶ sn This small horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who controlled the Seleucid kingdom from ca. 175-164 B.C. Antiochus was extremely hostile toward the Jews and persecuted them mercilessly.

[8:9]  ⁷ sn The expression the beautiful land (Heb. הַצֶּבִי [hatsÿvi] = “the beauty”) is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel. Cf. 11:16, 41, where it is preceded by the word אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”).

[8:10]  ⁸ tn Traditionally, “host.” The term refers to God’s heavenly angelic assembly, which he sometimes leads into battle as an army.

[8:10]  ⁹ sn In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Isa 40:26. In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13).

[8:11]  ¹⁰ sn The prince of the army may refer to God (cf. “whose sanctuary” later in the verse) or to the angel Michael (cf. 12:1).

[8:11]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps “and by him,” referring to Antiochus rather than to God.

[8:11]  ¹² sn Here the sanctuary is a reference to the temple of God in Jerusalem.

[8:12]  ¹³ tc The present translation reads וּצְבָאָהּ נִתַּן (utsÿva’ah nittan) for the MT וְצָבָא תִּנָּתֵן (vÿtsava’ tinnaten). The context suggests a perfect rather than an imperfect verb.

[8:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in (the course of) rebellion.” The meaning of the phrase is difficult to determine. It could mean “due to rebellion,” referring to the failures of the Jews, but this is not likely since it is not a point made elsewhere in the book. The phrase more probably refers to the rebellion against God and the atrocities against the Jews epitomized by Antiochus.

[8:12]  ¹⁵ tc Two medieval Hebrew MSS and the LXX have a passive verb here: “truth was hurled to the ground” (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV).

[8:12]  ¹⁶ sn Truth here probably refers to the Torah. According to 1 Macc 1:56, Antiochus initiated destruction of the sacred books of the Jews.

[8:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “it acted and prospered.”

[11:36]  ¹⁸ sn The identity of this king is problematic. If vv. 36-45 continue the description of Antiochus Epiphanes, the account must be viewed as erroneous, since the details do not match what is known of Antiochus’ latter days. Most modern scholars take this view, concluding that this section was written just shortly before the death of Antiochus and that the writer erred on several key points as he tried to predict what would follow the events of his own day. Conservative scholars, however, usually understand the reference to shift at this point to an eschatological figure, viz., the Antichrist. The chronological gap that this would presuppose to be in the narrative is not necessarily a problem, since by all accounts there are many chronological gaps throughout the chapter, as the historical figures intended by such expressions as “king of the north” and “king of the south” repeatedly shift.

[11:36]  ¹⁹ tn The words “the time of” are added in the translation for clarification.

[11:36]  ²⁰ tn Heb “has been done.” The Hebrew verb used here is the perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of fulfillment.

[11:2]  ²¹ sn Perhaps these three more kings are Cambyses (ca. 530-522 B.C.), Pseudo-Smerdis (ca. 522 B.C.), and Darius I Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.).

[11:2]  ²² sn This fourth king is Xerxes I (ca. 486-465 B.C.). The following reference to one of his chiefs apparently has in view Seleucus Nicator.

[11:2]  ²³ tn Heb “rich with great riches.”

[11:2]  ²⁴ tn The text is difficult. The Hebrew has here אֶת (’et), the marker of a definite direct object. As it stands, this would suggest the meaning that “he will arouse everyone, that is, the kingdom of Greece.” The context, however, seems to suggest the idea that this Persian king will arouse in hostility against Greece the constituent elements of his own empire. This requires supplying the word “against,” which is not actually present in the Hebrew text.

[2:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I have dreamed a dream” (so KJV, ASV).

[2:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “my spirit.”

[2:4]  ²⁷ sn Contrary to common belief, the point here is not that the wise men (Chaldeans) replied to the king in the Aramaic language, or that this language was uniquely the language of the Chaldeans. It was this view that led in the past to Aramaic being referred to as “Chaldee.” Aramaic was used as a lingua franca during this period; its origins and usage were not restricted to the Babylonians. Rather, this phrase is better understood as an editorial note (cf. NAB) marking the fact that from 2:4b through 7:28 the language of the book shifts from Hebrew to Aramaic. In 8:1, and for the remainder of the book, the language returns to Hebrew. Various views have been advanced to account for this change of language, most of which are unconvincing. Most likely the change in language is a reflection of stages in the transmission history of the book of Daniel.

[2:4]  ²⁸ tn Or “the.”

[2:5]  ²⁹ tn Aram “answered and said,” a common idiom to indicate a reply, but redundant in contemporary English.

[2:5]  ³⁰ tn It seems clear from what follows that Nebuchadnezzar clearly recalls the content of the dream, although obviously he does not know what to make of it. By not divulging the dream itself to the would-be interpreters, he intends to find out whether they are simply leading him on. If they can tell him the dream’s content, which he is able to verify, he then can have confidence in their interpretation, which is what eludes him. The translation “the matter is gone from me” (cf. KJV, ASV), suggesting that the king had simply forgotten the dream, is incorrect. The Aramaic word used here (אַזְדָּא, ’azda’) is probably of Persian origin; it occurs in the OT only here and in v. 8. There are two main possibilities for the meaning of the word: “the matter is promulgated by me” (see KBL 1048 s.v.) and therefore “publicly known” (cf. NRSV; F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 62-63, §189), or “the matter is irrevocable” (cf. NAB, NIV, TEV, CEV, NLT; HALOT 1808 s.v. אזד; cf. also BDB 1079 s.v.). The present translation reflects this latter option. See further E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 3.

[2:5]  ³¹ tn Aram “made limbs.” Cf. 3:29.

[2:7]  ³² tn Aram “his servants.”

[2:7]  ³³ tn Or “the.”

[2:9]  ³⁴ tn Aram “one is your law,” i.e., only one thing is applicable to you.

[2:9]  ³⁵ tn Aram “a lying and corrupt word.”

[2:9]  ³⁶ tn Aram “I will know.”

[2:10]  ³⁷ tn Aram “matter, thing.”

[2:1]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Nebuchadnezzar’s.” The possessive pronoun is substituted in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:1]  ³⁹ tn Heb “dreamed dreams.” The plural is used here and in v. 2, but the singular in v. 3. The plural “dreams” has been variously explained. Some interpreters take the plural as denoting an indefinite singular (so GKC 400 §124.o). But it may be that it is describing a stream of related dreams, or a dream state. In the latter case, one might translate: “Nebuchadnezzar was in a trance.” See further, J. A. Montgomery, Daniel (ICC), 142.

[2:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “his spirit.”

[2:1]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “his sleep left (?) him.” The use of the verb הָיָה (hayah, “to be”) here is unusual. The context suggests a meaning such as “to be finished” or “gone.” Cf. Dan 8:27. Some scholars emend the verb to read נָדְדָה (nadÿdah, “fled”); cf. Dan 6:19. See further, DCH 2:540 s.v. היה I Ni.3; HALOT 244 s.v. היה nif; BDB 227-28 s.v. הָיָה Niph.2.

[4:1]  ⁴² sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:37 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Aramaic text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:31 AT, 4:2 ET = 3:32 AT, 4:3 ET = 3:33 AT, 4:4 ET = 4:1 AT, etc., through 4:37 ET = 4:34 AT. Thus Dan 3:31-33 of the Aramaic text appears as Dan 4:1-3 in the English Bible, and the corresponding verses of ch. 4 differ accordingly. In spite of the division of the Aramaic text, a good case can be made that 3:31-33 AT (= 4:1-3 ET) is actually the introduction to ch. 4.

[4:1]  ⁴³ tn Aram “May your peace increase!”

[4:3]  ⁴⁴ tn Aram “his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”