2:46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed down with his face to the ground 7 and paid homage to Daniel. He gave orders to offer sacrifice and incense to him.
5:29 Then, on Belshazzar’s orders, 8 Daniel was clothed in purple, a golden collar was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom.
6:27 He rescues and delivers
and performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel from the power 13 of the lions!”
8:1 18 In the third year 19 of King Belshazzar’s reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me previously. 20
8:15 While I, Daniel, was watching the vision, I sought to understand it. Now one who appeared to be a man was standing before me.
12:4 “But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, 21 and knowledge will increase.”
1 tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.
2 sn The meanings of the Babylonian names are more conjectural than is the case with the Hebrew names. The probable etymologies are as follows: Belteshazzar means “protect his life,” although the MT vocalization may suggest “Belti, protect the king” (cf. Dan 4:8); Shadrach perhaps means “command of Aku”; Meshach is of uncertain meaning; Abednego means “servant of Nego.” Assigning Babylonian names to the Hebrew youths may have been an attempt to erase from their memory their Israelite heritage.
3 tn The Aramaic participle is used here to express the imminent future.
4 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).
5 tn The Aramaic word מְהַחְצְפָה (mÿhakhtsÿfah) may refer to the severity of the king’s decree (i.e., “harsh”; so HALOT 1879 s.v. חצף; BDB 1093 s.v. חֲצַף), although it would seem that in a delicate situation such as this Daniel would avoid this kind of criticism of the king’s actions. The translation above understands the word to refer to the immediacy, not harshness, of the decree. See further, F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 50, §116; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 67.
6 tc Theodotion and the Syriac lack the words “went in and.”
7 tn Aram “fell on his face.”
8 tn Aram “Belshazzar spoke.”
9 tn Aram “giving an account.”
10 tn Aram “were saying.”
11 tn Aram “unless we find [it] against him.”
12 tn Aram “those men”; the referent (the administrative officials who had earlier approached the king about the edict) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Aram “hand.”
14 tn Aram “answered and said.”
15 tn Aram “and behold.”
16 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
17 sn The referent of the great sea is unclear. The common view that the expression refers to the Mediterranean Sea is conjectural.
18 sn Dan 8:1 marks the switch from Aramaic (= 2:4b-7:28) back to Hebrew as the language in which the book is written in its present form. The remainder of the book from this point on (8:1-12:13) is in Hebrew. The bilingual nature of the book has been variously explained, but it most likely has to do with the book’s transmission history.
19 sn The third year of King Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 551
20 tn Heb “in the beginning.” This refers to the vision described in chapter seven.
21 tn Or “will run back and forth”; KJV “shall run to and fro”; NIV “will go here and there”; CEV “will go everywhere.”
sn Many will dash about is probably an allusion to Amos 8:12.