2:10 The wise men replied to the king, “There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king’s secret, 11 for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man.
4:12 Its foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful;
on it there was food enough for all.
Under it the wild animals 16 used to seek shade,
and in its branches the birds of the sky used to nest.
All creatures 17 used to feed themselves from it.
9:25 So know and understand:
From the issuing of the command 22 to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem 23 until an anointed one, a prince arrives, 24
there will be a period of seven weeks 25 and sixty-two weeks.
It will again be built, 26 with plaza and moat,
but in distressful times.
9:26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,
an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. 27
As for the city and the sanctuary,
the people of the coming prince will destroy 28 them.
But his end will come speedily 29 like a flood. 30
Until the end of the war that has been decreed
there will be destruction.
12:1 “At that time Michael,
the great prince who watches over your people, 31
will arise. 32
There will be a time of distress
unlike any other from the nation’s beginning 33
up to that time.
But at that time your own people,
all those whose names are 34 found written in the book,
will escape.
1 tn Heb “good of appearance.”
2 tn Heb “knowers of knowledge.”
3 tn Heb “understanders of knowledge.”
4 tn Heb “who had strength.”
5 tn Heb “to stand in the palace of the king.” Cf. vv. 5, 19.
6 sn The language of the Chaldeans referred to here is Akkadian, an East Semitic cuneiform language.
7 tn Heb “Chaldeans” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV). This is an ancient name for the Babylonians.
8 tn Aram “one is your law,” i.e., only one thing is applicable to you.
9 tn Aram “a lying and corrupt word.”
10 tn Aram “I will know.”
11 tn Aram “matter, thing.”
12 tn Aram “a revealer of mysteries.” The phrase serves as a quasi-title for God in Daniel.
13 tn Aram “in the latter days.”
14 tn Aram “your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed.”
15 sn Daniel’s absence from this scene has sparked the imagination of commentators, some of whom have suggested that perhaps he was unable to attend the dedication due to sickness or due to being away on business. Hippolytus supposed that Daniel may have been watching from a distance.
16 tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”
17 tn Aram “all flesh.”
18 tn Aram “[there were] discovered to be in him.”
19 tn Aram “wisdom like the wisdom.” This would be redundant in terms of English style.
20 tc Theodotion lacks the phrase “and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods.”
21 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.
22 tn Or “decree” (NASB, NIV); or “word” (NAB, NRSV).
23 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
24 tn The word “arrives” is added in the translation for clarification.
25 tn Heb “sevens” (also later in this line and in v. 26).
sn The accents in the MT indicate disjunction at this point, which would make it difficult, if not impossible, to identify the “anointed one/prince” of this verse as messianic. The reference in v. 26 to the sixty-two weeks as a unit favors the MT accentuation, not the traditional translation. If one follows the MT accentuation, one may translate “From the going forth of the message to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, a prince arrives, there will be a period of seven weeks. During a period of sixty-two weeks it will again be built, with plaza and moat, but in distressful times.” The present translation follows a traditional reading of the passage that deviates from the MT accentuation.
26 tn Heb “it will return and be built.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.
27 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.
28 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.”
29 tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
30 sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.
31 tn Heb “stands over the sons of your people.”
32 tn Heb “will stand up.”
33 tn Or “from the beginning of a nation.”
34 tn The words “whose names are” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.