Daniel 1:3

1:3 The king commanded ¹  Ashpenaz, ²  who was in charge of his court officials, ³  to choose ⁴  some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent ⁵  –

Daniel 2:34

2:34 You were watching as ⁶  a stone was cut out, ⁷  but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces.

Daniel 2:47

2:47 The king replied to Daniel, “Certainly your God is a God of gods and Lord of kings and revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery!”

Daniel 6:3

6:3 Now this Daniel was distinguishing himself above the other supervisors and the satraps, for he had an extraordinary spirit. In fact, the king intended to appoint him over the entire kingdom.

Daniel 7:1

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

7:1 In the first ⁸  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had ⁹  a dream filled with visions ¹⁰  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. ¹¹ 

Daniel 8:22

8:22 The horn that was broken ¹²  and in whose place there arose four others stands for four kingdoms that will arise from his nation, though they will not have his strength.

Daniel 9:6

9:6 We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority ¹³  to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, ¹⁴  and to all the inhabitants ¹⁵  of the land as well.

Daniel 9:8

9:8 O LORD, we have been humiliated ¹⁶  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you.

Daniel 11:14

11:14 “In those times many will oppose ¹⁷  the king of the south. ¹⁸  Those who are violent ¹⁹  among your own people will rise up in confirmation of ²⁰  the vision, but they will falter.

Daniel 11:32

11:32 Then with smooth words he will defile ²¹  those who have rejected ²²  the covenant. But the people who are loyal to ²³  their God will act valiantly. ²⁴ 

[1:3]  ¹ tn Or “gave orders to.” Heb “said to.”

[1:3]  ² sn It is possible that the word Ashpenaz is not a proper name at all, but a general term for “innkeeper.” See J. J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia), 127, n. 9. However, the ancient versions understand the term to be a name, and the present translation (along with most English versions) understands the word in this way.

[1:3]  ³ sn The word court official (Hebrew saris) need not mean “eunuch” in a technical sense (see Gen 37:36, where the term refers to Potiphar, who had a wife), although in the case of the book of Daniel there was in Jewish literature a common tradition to that effect. On the OT usage of this word see HALOT 769-70 s.v. סָרֹיס.

[1:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “bring.”

[1:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from the seed of royalty and from the nobles.”

[2:34]  ⁶ tn Aram “until.”

[2:34]  ⁷ tc The LXX, Theodotion, and the Vulgate have “from a mountain,” though this is probably a harmonization with v. 45.

[7:1]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Aram “saw.”

[7:1]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”

[8:22]  ¹² tn Heb “the broken one.” The word “horn” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.

[9:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “in your name.” Another option is to translate, “as your representatives.”

[9:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “our fathers” (also in vv. 8, 16). The Hebrew term translated “father” can refer to more distant relationships such as grandfathers or ancestors.

[9:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “people.”

[9:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”

[11:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “stand against.”

[11:14]  ¹⁸ sn This was Ptolemy V Epiphanes (ca. 203-181 B.C.).

[11:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “sons of violence.” “Son(s) is sometimes used idiomatically in Hebrew to indicate that someone is characterized by a certain quality. So the expression “sons of violence” means that these individuals will be characterized by violent deeds.

[11:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to cause to stand.”

[11:32]  ²¹ tn Or “corrupt.”

[11:32]  ²² tn Heb “acted wickedly toward.”

[11:32]  ²³ tn Heb “know.” The term “know” sometimes means “to recognize.” In relational contexts it can have the connotation “recognize the authority of, be loyal to,” as it does here.

[11:32]  ²⁴ sn This is an allusion to the Maccabean revolt, which struggled to bring about Jewish independence in the second century B.C.