Daniel 1:17

1:17 Now as for these four young men, God endowed them with knowledge and skill in all sorts of literature and wisdom – and Daniel had insight into all kinds of visions and dreams.

Daniel 2:18

2:18 He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he ¹  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 3:17

3:17 If ²  our God whom we are serving exists, ³  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.

Daniel 3:25-26

3:25 He answered, “But I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!” ⁴  3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire. He called out, ⁵  “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out! Come here!”

Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged from the fire. ⁶ 

Daniel 4:8

4:8 Later Daniel entered (whose name is Belteshazzar after the name of my god, ⁷  and in whom there is a spirit of the holy gods). I recounted the dream for him as well,

Daniel 5:3

5:3 So they brought the gold and silver ⁸  vessels that had been confiscated from the temple, the house of God ⁹  in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, together with his wives and concubines, drank from them.

Daniel 6:16

6:16 So the king gave the order, ¹⁰  and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den ¹¹  of lions. The king consoled ¹²  Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!”

Daniel 6:22-23

6:22 My God sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths so that they have not harmed me, because I was found to be innocent before him. Nor have I done any harm to you, O king.”

6:23 Then the king was delighted and gave an order to haul Daniel up from the den. So Daniel was hauled up out of the den. He had no injury of any kind, because he had trusted in his God.

Daniel 9:11

9:11 “All Israel has broken ¹³  your law and turned away by not obeying you. ¹⁴  Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened ¹⁵  in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. ¹⁶ 

Daniel 9:14-15

9:14 The LORD was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the LORD our God is just ¹⁷  in all he has done, ¹⁸  and we have not obeyed him. ¹⁹ 

9:15 “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power ²⁰  and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day – we have sinned and behaved wickedly.

Daniel 9:19-20

9:19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, pay attention, and act! Don’t delay, for your own sake, O my God! For your city and your people are called by your name.” ²¹ 

Gabriel Gives to Daniel a Prophecy of Seventy Weeks

9:20 While I was still speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my request before the LORD my God concerning his holy mountain ²²  –

Daniel 9:23

9:23 At the beginning of your requests a message went out, and I have come to convey it to you, for you are of great value in God’s sight. ²³  Therefore consider the message and understand the vision: ²⁴ 

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¹ tn Aram “Daniel.” The proper name is redundant here in English, and has not been included in the translation.

² tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

³ tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.

⁴ sn The phrase like that of a god is in Aramaic “like that of a son of the gods.” Many patristic writers understood this phrase in a christological sense (i.e., “the Son of God”). But it should be remembered that these are words spoken by a pagan who is seeking to explain things from his own polytheistic frame of reference; for him the phrase “like a son of the gods” is equivalent to “like a divine being.”

⁵ tn Aram “answered and said.”

⁶ tn Aram “from the midst of the fire.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

⁷ sn This explanation of the meaning of the name Belteshazzar may be more of a paronomasia than a strict etymology.

⁸ tc The present translation reads וְכַסְפָּא (vÿkhaspa’, “and the silver”) with Theodotion and the Vulgate. Cf. v. 2. The form was probably accidentally dropped from the Aramaic text by homoioteleuton.

⁹ tn Aram “the temple of the house of God.” The phrase seems rather awkward. The Vulgate lacks “of the house of God,” while Theodotion and the Syriac lack “the house.”

¹⁰ tn Aram “said.” So also in vv. 24, 25.

¹¹ sn The den was perhaps a pit below ground level which could be safely observed from above.

¹² tn Aram “answered and said [to Daniel].”

¹³ tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.

¹⁴ tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “the curse and the oath which is written.” The term “curse” refers here to the judgments threatened in the Mosaic law (see Deut 28) for rebellion. The expression “the curse and the oath” is probably a hendiadys (cf. Num 5:21; Neh 10:29) referring to the fact that the covenant with its threatened judgments was ratified by solemn oath and made legally binding upon the covenant community.

¹⁶ tn Heb “him.”

¹⁷ tn Or “righteous.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “in all his deeds which he has done.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “we have not listened to his voice.”

²⁰ tn Heb “with a powerful hand.”

²¹ tn Heb “for your name is called over your city and your people.” See the note on this expression in v 18.

²² tn Heb “the holy mountain of my God.”

²³ tn Or “a precious treasure”; KJV “greatly beloved”; NASB, NIV “highly esteemed.”

²⁴ tn This sentence is perhaps a compound hendiadys (“give serious consideration to the revelatory vision”).