Daniel 4:12

4:12 Its foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful;

on it there was food enough for all.

Under it the wild animals ¹  used to seek shade,

and in its branches the birds of the sky used to nest.

All creatures ²  used to feed themselves from it.

Daniel 4:17

4:17 This announcement is by the decree of the sentinels;

this decision is by the pronouncement of the holy ones,

so that ³  those who are alive may understand

that the Most High has authority over human kingdoms, ⁴ 

and he bestows them on whomever he wishes.

He establishes over them even the lowliest of human beings.’

Daniel 5:19

5:19 Due to the greatness that he bestowed on him, all peoples, nations, and language groups were trembling with fear ⁵  before him. He killed whom he wished, he spared ⁶  whom he wished, he exalted whom he wished, and he brought low whom he wished.

Daniel 7:25

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

He will harass ⁷  the holy ones of the Most High continually.

His intention ⁸  will be to change times established by law. ⁹ 

They will be delivered into his hand

For a time, times, ¹⁰  and half a time.

[4:12]  ¹ tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”

[4:12]  ² tn Aram “all flesh.”

[4:17]  ³ tc The present translation follows an underlying reading of עַל־דִּבְרַת (’al-divrat, “so that”) rather than MT עַד־דִּבְרַת (’ad-divrat, “until”).

[4:17]  ⁴ tn Aram “the kingdom of man”; NASB “the realm of mankind”; NCV “every kingdom on earth.”

[5:19]  ⁵ tn Aram “were trembling and fearing.” This can be treated as a hendiadys, “were trembling with fear.”

[5:19]  ⁶ tn Aram “let live.” This Aramaic form is the aphel participle of חַיָה(khayah, “to live”). Theodotion and the Vulgate mistakenly take the form to be from מְחָא (mÿkha’, “to smite”).

[7:25]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Aram “he will think.”

[7:25]  ⁹ tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.

[7:25]  ¹⁰ 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.”