Daniel 2:4

2:4 The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic ¹ ] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its ²  interpretation.”

Daniel 6:5

6:5 So these men concluded, ³  “We won’t find any pretext against this man Daniel unless it is ⁴  in connection with the law of his God.”

Daniel 9:10

9:10 We have not obeyed ⁵  the LORD our God by living according to ⁶  his laws ⁷  that he set before us through his servants the prophets.

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¹ sn Contrary to common belief, the point here is not that the wise men (Chaldeans) replied to the king in the Aramaic language, or that this language was uniquely the language of the Chaldeans. It was this view that led in the past to Aramaic being referred to as “Chaldee.” Aramaic was used as a lingua franca during this period; its origins and usage were not restricted to the Babylonians. Rather, this phrase is better understood as an editorial note (cf. NAB) marking the fact that from 2:4b through 7:28 the language of the book shifts from Hebrew to Aramaic. In 8:1, and for the remainder of the book, the language returns to Hebrew. Various views have been advanced to account for this change of language, most of which are unconvincing. Most likely the change in language is a reflection of stages in the transmission history of the book of Daniel.

² tn Or “the.”

³ tn Aram “were saying.”

⁴ tn Aram “unless we find [it] against him.”

⁵ tn Heb “paid attention to the voice of,” which is an idiomatic expression for obedience (cf. NASB “nor have we obeyed the voice of”).

⁶ tn Heb “to walk in.”

⁷ tc The LXX and Vulgate have the singular.