2:10 The wise men replied to the king, “There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king’s secret, 6 for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man.
4:17 This announcement is by the decree of the sentinels;
this decision is by the pronouncement of the holy ones,
so that 11 those who are alive may understand
that the Most High has authority over human kingdoms, 12
and he bestows them on whomever he wishes.
He establishes over them even the lowliest of human beings.’
9:26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,
an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. 20
As for the city and the sanctuary,
the people of the coming prince will destroy 21 them.
But his end will come speedily 22 like a flood. 23
Until the end of the war that has been decreed
there will be destruction.
“Three 27 more kings will arise for Persia. Then a fourth 28 king will be unusually rich, 29 more so than all who preceded him. When he has amassed power through his riches, he will stir up everyone against 30 the kingdom of Greece.
11:36 “Then the king 31 will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every deity and he will utter presumptuous things against the God of gods. He will succeed until the time of 32 wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must occur. 33
1 tn Heb “The overseer of the court officials.” The subject has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.
2 tn Heb “assigned.” See v. 5.
3 tn Heb “Why should he see your faces thin from the young men who are according to your age?” The term translated “thin” occurs only here and in Gen 40:6, where it appears to refer to a dejected facial expression. The word is related to an Arabic root meaning “be weak.” See HALOT 277 s.v. II זעף.
4 tn The words “if that happened” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “my head.” Presumably this is an implicit reference to capital punishment (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), although this is not entirely clear.
6 tn Aram “matter, thing.”
7 tn Aram “a revealer of mysteries.” The phrase serves as a quasi-title for God in Daniel.
8 tn Aram “in the latter days.”
9 tn Aram “your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed.”
10 tn Aram “after this.”
11 tc The present translation follows an underlying reading of עַל־דִּבְרַת (’al-divrat, “so that”) rather than MT עַד־דִּבְרַת (’ad-divrat, “until”).
12 tn Aram “the kingdom of man”; NASB “the realm of mankind”; NCV “every kingdom on earth.”
13 tn Aram “[there were] discovered to be in him.”
14 tn Aram “wisdom like the wisdom.” This would be redundant in terms of English style.
15 tc Theodotion lacks the phrase “and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods.”
16 tc The MT includes a redundant reference to “your father the king” at the end of v. 11. None of the attempts to explain this phrase as original are very convincing. The present translation deletes the phrase, following Theodotion and the Syriac.
17 tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”
18 tn Or “by gaining insight.”
19 tn Heb “by your truth.” The Hebrew term does not refer here to abstract truth, however, but to the reliable moral guidance found in the covenant law. See vv 10-11.
20 sn The expression have nothing is difficult. Presumably it refers to an absence of support or assistance for the anointed one at the time of his “cutting off.” The KJV rendering “but not for himself,” apparently suggesting a vicarious death, cannot be defended.
21 tc Some witnesses (e.g., the Syriac) understand a passive verb and the preposition עִם (’im, “with) rather than the noun עַם (’am, “people”), thus reading “the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed with the coming prince.”
22 tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
23 sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.
24 tn Heb “Behold.”
25 tc So most Hebrew
26 tn Heb “my lord,” here a title of polite address. Cf. v. 19.
27 sn Perhaps these three more kings are Cambyses (ca. 530-522
28 sn This fourth king is Xerxes I (ca. 486-465
29 tn Heb “rich with great riches.”
30 tn The text is difficult. The Hebrew has here אֶת (’et), the marker of a definite direct object. As it stands, this would suggest the meaning that “he will arouse everyone, that is, the kingdom of Greece.” The context, however, seems to suggest the idea that this Persian king will arouse in hostility against Greece the constituent elements of his own empire. This requires supplying the word “against,” which is not actually present in the Hebrew text.
31 sn The identity of this king is problematic. If vv. 36-45 continue the description of Antiochus Epiphanes, the account must be viewed as erroneous, since the details do not match what is known of Antiochus’ latter days. Most modern scholars take this view, concluding that this section was written just shortly before the death of Antiochus and that the writer erred on several key points as he tried to predict what would follow the events of his own day. Conservative scholars, however, usually understand the reference to shift at this point to an eschatological figure, viz., the Antichrist. The chronological gap that this would presuppose to be in the narrative is not necessarily a problem, since by all accounts there are many chronological gaps throughout the chapter, as the historical figures intended by such expressions as “king of the north” and “king of the south” repeatedly shift.
32 tn The words “the time of” are added in the translation for clarification.
33 tn Heb “has been done.” The Hebrew verb used here is the perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of fulfillment.