Revelation 13:5-6

13:5 The beast ¹  was given a mouth speaking proud words ²  and blasphemies, and he was permitted ³  to exercise ruling authority ⁴  for forty-two months. 13:6 So ⁵  the beast ⁶  opened his mouth to blaspheme against God – to blaspheme both his name and his dwelling place, ⁷  that is, those who dwell in heaven.

Revelation 17:3

17:3 So ⁸  he carried me away in the Spirit ⁹  to a wilderness, ¹⁰  and there ¹¹  I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

Revelation 17:5

17:5 On ¹²  her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ¹³  “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”

Daniel 7:25

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

He will harass ¹⁴  the holy ones of the Most High continually.

His intention ¹⁵  will be to change times established by law. ¹⁶ 

They will be delivered into his hand

For a time, times, ¹⁷  and half a time.

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 2:3-4

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.”

[13:5]  ¹ tn Grk “and there was given to him.” Here the passive construction has been simplified, the referent (the beast) has been specified for clarity, and καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[13:5]  ² tn For the translation “proud words” (Grk “great things” or “important things”) see BDAG 624 s.v. μέγας 4.b.

[13:5]  ³ tn Grk “to it was granted.”

[13:5]  ⁴ tn For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.

[13:6]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the permission granted to the beast.

[13:6]  ⁶ tn Grk “he” (or “it”); the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ⁷ tc The reading “and his dwelling place” does not occur in codex C, but its omission is probably due to scribal oversight since the phrase has the same ending as the phrase before it, i.e., they both end in “his” (αὐτοῦ, autou). This is similar to the mistake this scribe made in 12:14 with the omission of the reading “and half a time” (καὶ ἥμισυ καιροῦ, kai {hmisu kairou).

[17:3]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s invitation to witness the fate of the prostitute.

[17:3]  ⁹ tn Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 75).

[17:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “desert.”

[17:3]  ¹¹ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[17:5]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:5]  ¹³ tn Some translations consider the word μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”) a part of the name written (“Mystery Babylon the Great,” so KJV, NIV), but the gender of both ὄνομα (onoma, “name”) and μυστήριον are neuter, while the gender of “Babylon” is feminine. This strongly suggests that μυστήριον should be understood as an appositive to ὄνομα (“a name, i.e., a mystery”).

[7:25]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “he will think.”

[7:25]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.

[7:25]  ¹⁷ 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.”

[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.”