Daniel 1:13

1:13 Then compare our appearance ¹  with that of ²  the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; ³  deal with us ⁴  in light of what you see.”

Daniel 1:15

1:15 At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier ⁵  than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies.

Daniel 2:4

2:4 The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic ⁶ ] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its ⁷  interpretation.”

Daniel 2:13

2:13 So a decree went out, and the wise men were about ⁸  to be executed. They also sought ⁹  Daniel and his friends so that they could be executed.

Daniel 3:21

3:21 So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, ¹⁰  and were thrown into the furnace ¹¹  of blazing fire.

Daniel 4:7

4:7 When the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners entered, I recounted the dream for them. But they were unable to make known its interpretation to me.

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 ¹²  interpretation to the king.

Daniel 6:5

6:5 So these men concluded, ¹³  “We won’t find any pretext against this man Daniel unless it is ¹⁴  in connection with the law of his God.”

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¹ tn Heb “let our appearance be seen before you.”

² tn Heb “the appearance of.”

³ tn Heb “delicacies of the king.” So also in v. 15.

⁴ tn Heb “your servants.”

⁵ 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).

⁶ 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.

⁷ tn Or “the.”

⁸ tn The Aramaic participle is used here to express the imminent future.

⁹ tn The impersonal active plural (“they sought”) of the Aramaic verb could also be translated as an English passive: “Daniel and his friends were sought” (cf. NAB).

¹⁰ sn There is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the specific nature of these items of clothing.

¹¹ tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

¹² tc Read וּפִשְׁרֵהּ (ufishreh) with the Qere rather than וּפִשְׁרָא (ufishra’) of the Kethib.

¹³ tn Aram “were saying.”

¹⁴ tn Aram “unless we find [it] against him.”