Daniel 1:11

1:11 Daniel then spoke to the warden ¹  whom the overseer of the court officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:

Daniel 1:15

1:15 At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier ²  than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies.

Daniel 6:11

6:11 Then those officials who had gone to the king ³  came by collusion and found Daniel praying and asking for help before his God.

Daniel 7:12

7:12 As for the rest of the beasts, their ruling authority had already been removed, though they were permitted to go on living ⁴  for a time and a season.

Daniel 8:1

Daniel Has a Vision of a Goat and a Ram

8:1 ⁵ In the third year ⁶  of King Belshazzar’s reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me previously. ⁷ 

Daniel 8:6

8:6 It came to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed against it with raging strength. ⁸ 

Daniel 9:1

Daniel Prays for His People

9:1 In the first year of Darius ⁹  son of Ahasuerus, ¹⁰  who was of Median descent and who had been ¹¹  appointed king over the Babylonian ¹²  empire –

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¹ sn Having failed to convince the overseer, Daniel sought the favor of the warden whom the overseer had appointed to care for the young men.

² tn Heb “fat of flesh”; KJV, ASV “fatter in flesh”; NASB, NRSV “fatter” (although this is no longer a sign of health in Western culture).

³ tn Aram “those men”; the referent (the administrative officials who had earlier approached the king about the edict) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Aram “a prolonging of life was granted to them.”

⁵ sn Dan 8:1 marks the switch from Aramaic (= 2:4b-7:28) back to Hebrew as the language in which the book is written in its present form. The remainder of the book from this point on (8:1-12:13) is in Hebrew. The bilingual nature of the book has been variously explained, but it most likely has to do with the book’s transmission history.

⁶ sn The third year of King Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 551 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 69 years old at the time of this vision.

⁷ tn Heb “in the beginning.” This refers to the vision described in chapter seven.

⁸ tn Heb “the wrath of its strength.”

⁹ sn The identity of this Darius is a major problem in correlating the biblical material with the extra-biblical records of this period. Most modern scholars treat the reference as a mistaken allusion to Darius Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.). Others have maintained instead that this name is a reference to the Persian governor Gubaru. Still others understand the reference to be to the Persian king Cyrus (cf. 6:28, where the vav (ו) may be understood as vav explicativum, meaning “even”). Under either of these latter two interpretations, the first year of Darius would have been ca. 538 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately eighty-two years old at this time.

¹⁰ tc The LXX reads “Xerxes.” This is the reading used by some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV). Most other English versions retain the Hebrew name “Ahasuerus.”

¹¹ tc The present translation follows the MT in reading a Hophal (i.e., passive). Theodotion, the Syriac, and the Vulgate all presuppose the Hiphil (i.e., active). Even though this is the only occurrence of the Hophal of this verb in the Bible, there is no need to emend the vocalization to the Hiphil.

¹² tn Heb “was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.”