Daniel 1:5

1:5 So the king assigned them a daily ration ¹  from his royal delicacies ²  and from the wine he himself drank. They were to be trained ³  for the next three years. At the end of that time they were to enter the king’s service. ⁴ 

Daniel 3:12

3:12 But there are Jewish men whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – and these men ⁵  have not shown proper respect to you, O king. They don’t serve your gods and they don’t pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

Daniel 6:24

6:24 The king gave another order, ⁶  and those men who had maliciously accused ⁷  Daniel were brought and thrown ⁸  into the lions’ den – they, their children, and their wives. ⁹  They did not even reach the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

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¹ tn Heb “a thing of a day in its day.”

² tn Heb “from the delicacies of the king.”

³ tn Or “educated.” See HALOT 179 s.v. I גדל.

⁴ tn Heb “stand before the king.”

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn Aram “said.”

⁷ tn Aram “had eaten the pieces of.” The Aramaic expression is ironic, in that the accusers who had figuratively “eaten the pieces of Daniel” are themselves literally devoured by the lions.

⁸ tn The Aramaic active impersonal verb is often used as a substitute for the passive.

⁹ tc The LXX specifies only the two overseers, together with their families, as those who were cast into the lions’ den.