2:23 O God of my fathers, I acknowledge and glorify you,
for you have bestowed wisdom and power on me.
Now you have enabled me to understand what I 9 requested from you.
For you have enabled me to understand the king’s dilemma.” 10
4:18 “This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare its 11 interpretation, for none of the wise men in 12 my kingdom are able to make known to me the interpretation. But you can do so, for a spirit of the holy gods is in you.”
4:33 Now in that very moment 13 this pronouncement about 14 Nebuchadnezzar came true. 15 He was driven from human society, he ate grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until his hair became long like an eagle’s feathers, and his nails like a bird’s claws. 16
9:26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,
an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. 19
As for the city and the sanctuary,
the people of the coming prince will destroy 20 them.
But his end will come speedily 21 like a flood. 22
Until the end of the war that has been decreed
there will be destruction.
“Three 29 more kings will arise for Persia. Then a fourth 30 king will be unusually rich, 31 more so than all who preceded him. When he has amassed power through his riches, he will stir up everyone against 32 the kingdom of Greece.
1 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
2 tn Heb “gave.”
3 tn Heb “hand,” which is often used idiomatically for one’s power and authority. See BDB 390 s.v. יָד 2.
4 tn Or “utensils”; or “articles.”
5 tn Heb “house of God.”
6 sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1, 9; Josh 7:21; Isa 11:11; Zech 5:11).
7 tn Or “gods” (NCV, NRSV, TEV; also later in this verse). The Hebrew term can be used as a numerical plural for many gods or as a plural of majesty for one particular god. Since Nebuchadnezzar was a polytheist, it is not clear if the reference here is to many gods or one particular deity. The plural of majesty, while normally used for Israel’s God, is occasionally used of foreign gods (cf. BDB 43 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 1, 2). See Judg 11:24 (of the Moabite god Chemosh); 1 Sam 5:7 (of the Philistine god Dagon); 1 Kgs 11:33 (of the Canaanite goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom); 2 Kgs 19:37 (of the Assyrian god Nisroch). Since gods normally had their own individual temples, Dan 1:2 probably refers to a particular deity, perhaps Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon, or Marduk’s son Nabu, after whom Nebuchadnezzar was named. The name Nebuchadnezzar means “Nabu has protected the son who will inherit” (HALOT 660 s.v. נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר). For a discussion of how temples functioned in Babylonian religion see H. Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near East, 77-81.
8 tn Heb “brought.” Though the Hebrew verb “brought” is repeated in this verse, the translation uses “brought…put” for stylistic variation.
9 tn Aram “we.” Various explanations have been offered for the plural, but it is probably best understood as the editorial plural; so also with “me” later in this verse.
10 tn Aram “the word of the king.”
11 tc The present translation reads פִּשְׁרֵהּ (pishreh, “its interpretation”) with the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
12 tn Aram “of.”
13 tn Aram “hour.”
14 tn Or “on.”
15 tn Aram “was fulfilled.”
16 tn The words “feathers” and “claws” are not present in the Aramaic text, but have been added in the translation for clarity.
17 tn The Aramaic text has also the words “about you.”
18 tn Or perhaps “one of three rulers,” in the sense of becoming part of a triumvir. So also v. 29.
19 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.
20 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.”
21 tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
22 sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.
23 tn Or “a treasured person”; KJV “a man greatly beloved”; NASB “man of high esteem.”
24 tn The Hebrew participle is often used, as here, to refer to the imminent future.
25 tn Heb “stand upon your standing.”
26 tn Heb “spoke this word.”
27 tn Heb “treasured man.”
28 tn Heb “my lord may speak.”
29 sn Perhaps these three more kings are Cambyses (ca. 530-522
30 sn This fourth king is Xerxes I (ca. 486-465
31 tn Heb “rich with great riches.”
32 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.