2:29 “As for you, O king, while you were in your bed your thoughts turned to future things. 1 The revealer of mysteries has made known to you what will take place.
3:24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and quickly got up. He said to his ministers, “Wasn’t it three men that we tied up and threw 4 into 5 the fire?” They replied to the king, “For sure, O king.”
5:10 Due to the noise 8 caused by the king and his nobles, the queen mother 9 then entered the banquet room. She 10 said, “O king, live forever! Don’t be alarmed! Don’t be shaken!
“O Lord, 16 great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant 17 with those who love him and keep his commandments,
9:15 “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power 18 and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day – we have sinned and behaved wickedly.
1 tn Aram “your thoughts upon your bed went up to what will be after this.”
2 tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.
3 tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.
4 tn Aram “we threw…bound.”
5 tn Aram “into the midst of.”
6 sn Much of modern scholarship views this chapter as a distortion of traditions that were originally associated with Nabonidus rather than with Nebuchadnezzar. A Qumran text, the Prayer of Nabonidus, is often cited for parallels to these events.
7 tn Aram “if there may be a lengthening to your prosperity.”
8 tn Aram “words of the king.”
9 tn Aram “the queen” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). In the following discourse this woman is able to recall things about Daniel that go back to the days of Nebuchadnezzar, things that Belshazzar does not seem to recollect. It is likely that she was the wife not of Belshazzar but of Nabonidus or perhaps even Nebuchadnezzar. In that case, “queen” here means “queen mother” (cf. NCV “the king’s mother”).
10 tn Aram “The queen.” The translation has used the pronoun “she” instead because repetition of the noun here would be redundant in terms of English style.
11 tn Aram “from the sons of the captivity [of].”
12 tn Aram “prays his prayer.”
13 tc Theodotion lacks the words “came by collusion to the king and.”
14 tn Aram “the king.”
15 tn Aram “know”; NAB “Keep in mind”; NASB “Recognize”; NIV, NCV “Remember.”
16 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 7, 9, 15, 16, and 19 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
17 tn Heb “who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.
18 tn Heb “with a powerful hand.”