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 4:27

4:27 Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps your prosperity will be prolonged.” ³ 

Daniel 5:10

5:10 Due to the noise ⁴  caused by the king and his nobles, the queen mother ⁵  then entered the banquet room. She ⁶  said, “O king, live forever! Don’t be alarmed! Don’t be shaken!

Daniel 6:15

6:15 Then those men came by collusion to the king and ⁷  said to him, ⁸  “Recall, ⁹  O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no edict or decree that the king issues can be changed.”

Daniel 9:10

9:10 We have not obeyed ¹⁰  the LORD our God by living according to ¹¹  his laws ¹²  that he set before us through his servants the prophets.

[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.”

[4:27]  ³ tn Aram “if there may be a lengthening to your prosperity.”

[5:10]  ⁴ tn Aram “words of the king.”

[5:10]  ⁵ tn Aram “the queen” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). In the following discourse this woman is able to recall things about Daniel that go back to the days of Nebuchadnezzar, things that Belshazzar does not seem to recollect. It is likely that she was the wife not of Belshazzar but of Nabonidus or perhaps even Nebuchadnezzar. In that case, “queen” here means “queen mother” (cf. NCV “the king’s mother”).

[5:10]  ⁶ tn Aram “The queen.” The translation has used the pronoun “she” instead because repetition of the noun here would be redundant in terms of English style.

[6:15]  ⁷ tc Theodotion lacks the words “came by collusion to the king and.”

[6:15]  ⁸ tn Aram “the king.”

[6:15]  ⁹ tn Aram “know”; NAB “Keep in mind”; NASB “Recognize”; NIV, NCV “Remember.”

[9:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “paid attention to the voice of,” which is an idiomatic expression for obedience (cf. NASB “nor have we obeyed the voice of”).

[9:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[9:10]  ¹² tc The LXX and Vulgate have the singular.