Daniel 4:3

4:3 “How great are his signs!

How mighty are his wonders!

His kingdom will last forever, ¹ 

and his authority continues from one generation to the next.”

Daniel 4:34

4:34 But at the end of the appointed time ²  I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up ³  toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me.

I extolled the Most High,

and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever.

For his authority is an everlasting authority,

and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next.

Daniel 5:4

5:4 As they drank wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Daniel 5:23

5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ⁴  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ⁵  your very breath and all your ways!

Daniel 5:1

Belshazzar Sees Mysterious Handwriting on a Wall

5:1 King Belshazzar ⁶  prepared a great banquet ⁷  for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of ⁸  them all. ⁹ 

Pengkhotbah 2:9-10

2:9 So ¹⁰  I was far wealthier ¹¹  than all my predecessors in Jerusalem,

yet I maintained my objectivity: ¹² 

2:10 I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; ¹³ 

I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. ¹⁴ 

So all my accomplishments gave me joy; ¹⁵ 

this was my reward for all my effort. ¹⁶ 

[4:3]  ¹ tn Aram “his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”

[4:34]  ² tn Aram “days.”

[4:34]  ³ tn Aram “lifted up my eyes.”

[5:23]  ⁴ tn Aram “which.”

[5:23]  ⁵ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”

[5:1]  ⁶ sn As is clear from the extra-biblical records, it was actually Nabonidus (ca. 556-539 B.C.) who was king of Babylon at this time. However, Nabonidus spent long periods of time at Teima, and during those times Belshazzar his son was de facto king of Babylon. This arrangement may help to explain why later in this chapter Belshazzar promises that the successful interpreter of the handwriting on the wall will be made third ruler in the kingdom. If Belshazzar was in effect second ruler in the kingdom, this would be the highest honor he could grant.

[5:1]  ⁷ sn This scene of a Babylonian banquet calls to mind a similar grandiose event recorded in Esth 1:3-8. Persian kings were also renowned in the ancient Near Eastern world for their lavish banquets.

[5:1]  ⁸ sn The king probably sat at an elevated head table.

[5:1]  ⁹ tn Aram “the thousand.”

[2:9]  ¹⁰ tn The vav prefixed to וְגָדַלְתִּי (vÿgadalti, vav + Qal perfect first common singular from גָּדַל, gadal, “to be great; to increase”) functions in a final summarizing sense, that is, it introduces the concluding summary of 2:4-9.

[2:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I became great and I surpassed” (וְהוֹסַפְתִּי וְגָדַלְתִּי, vÿgadalti vÿhosafti). This is a verbal hendiadys in which the second verb functions adverbially, modifying the first: “I became far greater.” Most translations miss the hendiadys and render the line in a woodenly literal sense (KJV, ASV, RSV, NEB, NRSV, NAB, NASB, MLB, Moffatt), while only a few recognize the presence of hendiadys here: “I became greater by far” (NIV) and “I gained more” (NJPS).

[2:9]  ¹² tn Heb “yet my wisdom stood for me,” meaning he retained his wise perspective despite his great wealth.

[2:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “all which my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them.”

[2:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I did not refuse my heart any pleasure.” The term לִבִּי (libbi, “my heart”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., heart) for the whole (i.e., whole person); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 648. The term is repeated twice in 2:10 for emphasis.

[2:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “So my heart was joyful from all my toil.”

[2:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and this was my portion from all my toil.”