Daniel 8:15

An Angel Interprets Daniel’s Vision

8:15 While I, Daniel, was watching the vision, I sought to understand it. Now one who appeared to be a man was standing before me.

Daniel 8:27

8:27 I, Daniel, was exhausted ¹  and sick for days. Then I got up and again carried out the king’s business. But I was astonished at the vision, and there was no one to explain it.

Daniel 10:4

10:4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month ²  I was beside the great river, the Tigris. ³ 

Daniel 10:9

10:9 I listened to his voice, ⁴  and as I did so ⁵  I fell into a trance-like sleep with my face to the ground.

[8:27]  ¹ tn The Hebrew word here is נִהְיֵיתִי (nihyetiy). Its meaning is not entirely clear. Hebrew הָיָה (hayah) normally has meanings such as “to be” or “become.” Here, however, it describes Daniel’s emotional and physical response to the enigmatic vision that he has seen. It is parallel to the following verb, which refers to illness, and seems to refer to a state of utter exhaustion due to the amazing things that Daniel has just seen. The LXX lacks the word. On the meaning of the word see further, BDB 227-28 s.v. הָיָה Niph.2; DCH 2:540 s.v. היה I Ni.3.

[10:4]  ¹ sn The first month would be the month of Nisan, during which Passover was observed.

[10:4]  ² tn The Hebrew text has חִדָּקֶל (hiddaqel). “Tigris” appears here in the LXX, since it is the Greek name for this river. Elsewhere in the OT “the great river” refers to the Euphrates (e.g., Gen 15:18; Josh 1:4), leading some interpreters to think that a mistake is involved in using the expression to refer to the Tigris. But it is doubtful that the expression had such a fixed and limited usage. The Syriac, however, does render the word here by “Euphrates” (Syr. perat) in keeping with biblical usage elsewhere.

[10:9]  ¹ tc Heb “I heard the sound of his words.” These words are absent in the LXX and the Syriac.

[10:9]  ² tn Heb “as I listened to the sound of his words.”