4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. 6
He does as he wishes with the army of heaven
and with those who inhabit the earth.
No one slaps 7 his hand
and says to him, ‘What have you done?’
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.
8:27 I, Daniel, was exhausted 23 and sick for days. Then I got up and again carried out the king’s business. But I was astonished at the vision, and there was no one to explain it.
1 tn Aram “whose dwelling is not with flesh.”
2 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.”
3 tn Aram “from me is placed an edict.”
4 tn Aram “speaks negligence.”
5 tc The present translation assumes the reading חֲזִי (khazi, “consider”) rather than the MT חֶזְוֵי (khezvey, “visions”). The MT implies that the king required Daniel to disclose both the dream and its interpretation, as in chapter 2. But in the following verses Nebuchadnezzar recounts his dream, while Daniel presents only its interpretation.
6 tc The present translation reads כְּלָא (kÿla’), with many medieval Hebrew
7 tn Aram “strikes against.”
8 tn Aram “looking to find.”
9 tn Aram “from the side of the kingdom.”
10 tn Aram “pretext and corruption.”
11 tn Aram “no negligence or corruption was found in him.” The Greek version of Theodotion lacks the phrase “and no negligence or corruption was found in him.”
12 tn Aram “from the sons of the captivity [of].”
13 tn Aram “prays his prayer.”
14 tc Theodotion lacks the words “came by collusion to the king and.”
15 tn Aram “the king.”
16 tn Aram “know”; NAB “Keep in mind”; NASB “Recognize”; NIV, NCV “Remember.”
17 tn Or “beast” (NAB).
18 tn Heb “hand.” So also in v. 7.
19 tn In the Hiphil the Hebrew verb גָּדַל (gadal, “to make great; to magnify”) can have either a positive or a negative sense. For the former, used especially of God, see Ps 126:2, 3; Joel 2:21. In this chapter (8:4, 8, 11, 25) the word has a pejorative sense, describing the self-glorification of this king. The sense seems to be that of vainly assuming one’s own superiority through deliberate hubris.
20 tn The word “horns” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
21 sn The four conspicuous horns refer to Alexander’s successors. After his death, Alexander’s empire was divided up among four of his generals: Cassander, who took Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus, who took Thrace and parts of Asia Minor; Seleucus, who took Syria and territory to its east; and Ptolemy, who took control of Egypt.
22 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
23 tn The Hebrew word here is נִהְיֵיתִי (nihyetiy). Its meaning is not entirely clear. Hebrew הָיָה (hayah) normally has meanings such as “to be” or “become.” Here, however, it describes Daniel’s emotional and physical response to the enigmatic vision that he has seen. It is parallel to the following verb, which refers to illness, and seems to refer to a state of utter exhaustion due to the amazing things that Daniel has just seen. The LXX lacks the word. On the meaning of the word see further, BDB 227-28 s.v. הָיָה Niph.2; DCH 2:540 s.v. היה I Ni.3.
24 sn This well-fortified city is apparently Sidon. Its capture from the Ptolemies by Antiochus the Great was a strategic victory for the Seleucid kingdom.
25 tn Or “choice troops” (BDB 104 s.v. מִבְחָר), or “elite troops” (HALOT 542 s.v. מִבְחָר).
26 tn Heb “hand.”