Daniel 2:5

2:5 The king replied ¹  to the wise men, “My decision is firm. ²  If you do not inform me of both the dream and its interpretation, you will be dismembered ³  and your homes reduced to rubble!

Daniel 2:48

2:48 Then the king elevated Daniel to high position and bestowed on him many marvelous gifts. He granted him authority over the entire province of Babylon and made him the main prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 5:29

5:29 Then, on Belshazzar’s orders, ⁴  Daniel was clothed in purple, a golden collar was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom.

Daniel 7:11

7:11 “Then I kept on watching because of the arrogant words of the horn that was speaking. I was watching ⁵  until the beast was killed and its body destroyed and thrown into ⁶  the flaming fire.

Daniel 8:12

8:12 The army was given over, ⁷  along with the daily sacrifice, in the course of his sinful rebellion. ⁸  It hurled ⁹  truth ¹⁰  to the ground and enjoyed success. ¹¹ 

Daniel 9:14

9:14 The LORD was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the LORD our God is just ¹²  in all he has done, ¹³  and we have not obeyed him. ¹⁴ 

[2:5]  ¹ tn Aram “answered and said,” a common idiom to indicate a reply, but redundant in contemporary English.

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

[5:29]  ⁴ tn Aram “Belshazzar spoke.”

[7:11]  ⁵ tc The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “I was watching” here. It is possible that these words in the MT are a dittography from the first part of the verse.

[7:11]  ⁶ tn Aram “and given over to” (so NRSV).

[8:12]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it acted and prospered.”

[9:14]  ¹² tn Or “righteous.”

[9:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “in all his deeds which he has done.”

[9:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “we have not listened to his voice.”