Daniel 1:1

Daniel Finds Favor in Babylon

1:1 In the third 1  year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar 2  of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem 3  and laid it under siege. 4 

Daniel 2:4

2:4 The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic 5 ] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its 6  interpretation.”

Daniel 2:15-16

2:15 He inquired of Arioch the king’s deputy, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” 7  Then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter. 2:16 So Daniel went in and 8  requested the king to grant him time, that he might disclose the interpretation to the king.

Daniel 4:24

4:24 this is the interpretation, O king! It is the decision of the Most High that this has happened to my lord the king.

Daniel 5:8

5:8 So all the king’s wise men came in, but they were unable to read the writing or to make known its 9  interpretation to the king.

Daniel 11:9

11:9 Then the king of the north 10  will advance against the empire of the king of the south, but will withdraw to his own land.

1 sn The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim would be ca. 605 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been a teenager. The reference to Jehoiakim’s third year poses a serious crux interpretum, since elsewhere these events are linked to his fourth year (Jer 25:1; cf. 2 Kgs 24:1; 2 Chr 36:5-8). Apparently Daniel is following an accession year chronology, whereby the first partial year of a king’s reign was reckoned as the accession year rather than as the first year of his reign. Jeremiah, on the other hand, is following a nonaccession year chronology, whereby the accession year is reckoned as the first year of the king’s reign. In that case, the conflict is only superficial. Most modern scholars, however, have concluded that Daniel is historically inaccurate here.

2 sn King Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon from ca. 605-562 B.C.

3 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

4 sn This attack culminated in the first of three major deportations of Jews to Babylon. The second one occurred in 597 B.C. and included among many other Jewish captives the prophet Ezekiel. The third deportation occurred in 586 B.C., at which time the temple and the city of Jerusalem were thoroughly destroyed.

5 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.

6 tn Or “the.”

7 tn The Aramaic word מְהַחְצְפָה (mÿhakhtsÿfah) may refer to the severity of the king’s decree (i.e., “harsh”; so HALOT 1879 s.v. חצף; BDB 1093 s.v. חֲצַף), although it would seem that in a delicate situation such as this Daniel would avoid this kind of criticism of the king’s actions. The translation above understands the word to refer to the immediacy, not harshness, of the decree. See further, F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 50, §116; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 67.

8 tc Theodotion and the Syriac lack the words “went in and.”

9 tc Read וּפִשְׁרֵהּ (ufishreh) with the Qere rather than וּפִשְׁרָא (ufishra’) of the Kethib.

10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of the north) has been specified in the translation for clarity.