Daniel 9:1

Daniel Prays for His People

9:1 In the first year of Darius ¹  son of Ahasuerus, ²  who was of Median descent and who had been ³  appointed king over the Babylonian ⁴  empire –

Daniel 11:1

11:1 And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I ⁵  stood to strengthen him and to provide protection for him.)

Daniel 1:1

Daniel Finds Favor in Babylon

1:1 In the third ⁶  year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar ⁷  of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem ⁸  and laid it under siege. ⁹ 

Daniel 7:1

Daniel has a Vision of Four Animals Coming up from the Sea

7:1 In the first ¹⁰  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had ¹¹  a dream filled with visions ¹²  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. ¹³ 

Daniel 8:1

Daniel Has a Vision of a Goat and a Ram

8:1 ¹⁴ In the third year ¹⁵  of King Belshazzar’s reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me previously. ¹⁶ 

Daniel 9:2

9:2 in the first year of his reign ¹⁷  I, Daniel, came to understand from the sacred books ¹⁸  that, according to the word of the LORD ¹⁹  disclosed to the prophet Jeremiah, the years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem ²⁰  were seventy in number.

Daniel 10:1

An Angel Appears to Daniel

10:1 ²¹ In the third ²²  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. ²³  He understood the message and gained insight by the vision.

[9:1]  ¹ sn The identity of this Darius is a major problem in correlating the biblical material with the extra-biblical records of this period. Most modern scholars treat the reference as a mistaken allusion to Darius Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.). Others have maintained instead that this name is a reference to the Persian governor Gubaru. Still others understand the reference to be to the Persian king Cyrus (cf. 6:28, where the vav (ו) may be understood as vav explicativum, meaning “even”). Under either of these latter two interpretations, the first year of Darius would have been ca. 538 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately eighty-two years old at this time.

[9:1]  ² tc The LXX reads “Xerxes.” This is the reading used by some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV). Most other English versions retain the Hebrew name “Ahasuerus.”

[9:1]  ³ tc The present translation follows the MT in reading a Hophal (i.e., passive). Theodotion, the Syriac, and the Vulgate all presuppose the Hiphil (i.e., active). Even though this is the only occurrence of the Hophal of this verb in the Bible, there is no need to emend the vocalization to the Hiphil.

[9:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.”

[11:1]  ⁵ sn The antecedent of the pronoun “I” is the angel, not Daniel. The traditional chapter division at this point, and the presence of a chronological note in the verse similar to ones used elsewhere in the book to position Daniel’s activities in relation to imperial affairs, sometimes lead to confusion on this matter.

[1:1]  ⁹ sn The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim would be ca. 605 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been a teenager. The reference to Jehoiakim’s third year poses a serious crux interpretum, since elsewhere these events are linked to his fourth year (Jer 25:1; cf. 2 Kgs 24:1; 2 Chr 36:5-8). Apparently Daniel is following an accession year chronology, whereby the first partial year of a king’s reign was reckoned as the accession year rather than as the first year of his reign. Jeremiah, on the other hand, is following a nonaccession year chronology, whereby the accession year is reckoned as the first year of the king’s reign. In that case, the conflict is only superficial. Most modern scholars, however, have concluded that Daniel is historically inaccurate here.

[1:1]  ¹⁰ sn King Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon from ca. 605-562 B.C.

[1:1]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:1]  ¹² sn This attack culminated in the first of three major deportations of Jews to Babylon. The second one occurred in 597 B.C. and included among many other Jewish captives the prophet Ezekiel. The third deportation occurred in 586 B.C., at which time the temple and the city of Jerusalem were thoroughly destroyed.

[7:1]  ¹³ sn The first year of Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 553 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 67 years old at the time of this vision.

[7:1]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “saw.”

[7:1]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “and visions of his head.” The Aramaic is difficult here. Some scholars add a verb thought to be missing (e.g., “the visions of his head [were alarming him]”), but there is no external evidence to support such a decision and the awkwardness of the text at this point may be original.

[7:1]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”

[8:1]  ¹⁷ sn Dan 8:1 marks the switch from Aramaic (= 2:4b-7:28) back to Hebrew as the language in which the book is written in its present form. The remainder of the book from this point on (8:1-12:13) is in Hebrew. The bilingual nature of the book has been variously explained, but it most likely has to do with the book’s transmission history.

[8:1]  ¹⁸ sn The third year of King Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 551 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 69 years old at the time of this vision.

[8:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in the beginning.” This refers to the vision described in chapter seven.

[9:2]  ²¹ tc This phrase, repeated from v. 1, is absent in Theodotion.

[9:2]  ²² tn The Hebrew text has “books”; the word “sacred” has been added in the translation to clarify that it is Scriptures that are referred to.

[9:2]  ²³ sn The tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters which constitute the divine Name, YHWH) appears eight times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the book of Daniel.

[9:2]  ²⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:1]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tc The LXX has “first.”

[10:1]  ²⁷ 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.