Daniel 2:4

2:4 The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic ¹ ] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its ²  interpretation.”

Daniel 2:14

2:14 Then Daniel spoke with prudent counsel ³  to Arioch, who was in charge of the king’s executioners and who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 3:22

3:22 But since the king’s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted ⁴  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed ⁵  by the leaping flames. ⁶ 

Daniel 5:5

5:5 At that very moment the fingers of a human hand appeared ⁷  and wrote on the plaster of the royal palace wall, opposite the lampstand. ⁸  The king was watching the back ⁹  of the hand that was writing.

Daniel 5:13

5:13 So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives of Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah?

Daniel 6:27

6:27 He rescues and delivers

and performs signs and wonders

in the heavens and on the earth.

He has rescued Daniel from the power ¹⁰  of the lions!”

Daniel 8:10

8:10 It grew so big it reached the army ¹¹  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ¹²  to the ground, where it trampled them.

Daniel 8:22

8:22 The horn that was broken ¹³  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 11:5

11:5 “Then the king of the south ¹⁴  and one of his subordinates ¹⁵  will grow strong. His subordinate ¹⁶  will resist ¹⁷  him and will rule a kingdom greater than his. ¹⁸ 

Daniel 11:37

11:37 He will not respect ¹⁹  the gods of his fathers – not even the god loved by women. ²⁰  He will not respect any god; he will elevate himself above them all.

Daniel 12:4

12:4 “But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, ²¹  and knowledge will increase.”

[2:4]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “the.”

[2:14]  ³ tn Aram “returned prudence and counsel.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[3:22]  ⁴ tn Aram “caused to go up.”

[3:22]  ⁵ tn The Aramaic verb is active.

[3:22]  ⁶ tn Aram “the flame of the fire” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NRSV “the raging flames.”

[5:5]  ⁷ tn Aram “came forth.”

[5:5]  ⁸ sn The mention of the lampstand in this context is of interest because it suggests that the writing was in clear view.

[5:5]  ⁹ tn While Aramaic פַּס (pas) can mean the palm of the hand, here it seems to be the back of the hand that is intended.

[6:27]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “hand.”

[8:10]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally, “host.” The term refers to God’s heavenly angelic assembly, which he sometimes leads into battle as an army.

[8:10]  ¹² sn In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Isa 40:26. In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13).

[8:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “the broken one.” The word “horn” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.

[11:5]  ¹⁴ sn The king of the south is Ptolemy I Soter (ca. 323-285 B.C.). The following reference to one of his subordinates apparently has in view Seleucus I Nicator (ca. 311-280 B.C.). Throughout the remainder of chap. 11 the expressions “king of the south” and “king of the north” repeatedly occur. It is clear, however, that these terms are being used generically to describe the Ptolemaic king (i.e., “of the south”) or the Seleucid king (i.e., “of the north”) who happens to be in power at any particular time. The specific identity of these kings can be established more or less successfully by a comparison of this chapter with the available extra-biblical records that discuss the history of the intertestamental period. In the following notes the generally accepted identifications are briefly mentioned.

[11:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “princes.”

[11:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the subordinate prince mentioned in the previous clause) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “be strong against.”

[11:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “greater than his kingdom.”

[11:37]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “consider.”

[11:37]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[the one] desired by women.” The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:4]  ²¹ tn Or “will run back and forth”; KJV “shall run to and fro”; NIV “will go here and there”; CEV “will go everywhere.”

[12:4]  sn Many will dash about is probably an allusion to Amos 8:12.