9:11 “All Israel has broken 18 your law and turned away by not obeying you. 19 Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened 20 in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. 21
9:15 “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power 22 and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day – we have sinned and behaved wickedly.
11:14 “In those times many will oppose 25 the king of the south. 26 Those who are violent 27 among your own people will rise up in confirmation of 28 the vision, but they will falter.
1 tn Aram “answered and said,” a common idiom to indicate a reply, but redundant in contemporary English.
2 tn It seems clear from what follows that Nebuchadnezzar clearly recalls the content of the dream, although obviously he does not know what to make of it. By not divulging the dream itself to the would-be interpreters, he intends to find out whether they are simply leading him on. If they can tell him the dream’s content, which he is able to verify, he then can have confidence in their interpretation, which is what eludes him. The translation “the matter is gone from me” (cf. KJV, ASV), suggesting that the king had simply forgotten the dream, is incorrect. The Aramaic word used here (אַזְדָּא, ’azda’) is probably of Persian origin; it occurs in the OT only here and in v. 8. There are two main possibilities for the meaning of the word: “the matter is promulgated by me” (see KBL 1048 s.v.) and therefore “publicly known” (cf. NRSV; F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 62-63, §189), or “the matter is irrevocable” (cf. NAB, NIV, TEV, CEV, NLT; HALOT 1808 s.v. אזד; cf. also BDB 1079 s.v.). The present translation reflects this latter option. See further E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 3.
3 tn Aram “made limbs.” Cf. 3:29.
4 tn Aram “not for any wisdom which is in me more than [in] any living man.”
5 tn Aram “they might cause the king to know.” The impersonal plural is used here to refer to the role of God’s spirit in revealing the dream and its interpretation to the king. As J. A. Montgomery says, “it appropriately here veils the mysterious agency” (Daniel [ICC], 164-65).
6 tn Aram “heart.”
7 tn Aram “the sons of man.”
8 tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”
9 tn Aram “hand.”
10 tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.
11 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.
12 tn Aram “in the mouth of the king.”
13 tn Aram “to you they say.”
14 tn Aram “said.” So also in vv. 24, 25.
15 sn The den was perhaps a pit below ground level which could be safely observed from above.
16 tn Aram “answered and said [to Daniel].”
17 tn Aram “The king answered and said to Daniel.” This phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons; it is redundant in English.
18 tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.
19 tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”
20 tn Heb “the curse and the oath which is written.” The term “curse” refers here to the judgments threatened in the Mosaic law (see Deut 28) for rebellion. The expression “the curse and the oath” is probably a hendiadys (cf. Num 5:21; Neh 10:29) referring to the fact that the covenant with its threatened judgments was ratified by solemn oath and made legally binding upon the covenant community.
21 tn Heb “him.”
22 tn Heb “with a powerful hand.”
23 tn Or “a precious treasure”; KJV “greatly beloved”; NASB, NIV “highly esteemed.”
24 tn This sentence is perhaps a compound hendiadys (“give serious consideration to the revelatory vision”).
25 tn Heb “stand against.”
26 sn This was Ptolemy V Epiphanes (ca. 203-181
27 tn Heb “sons of violence.” “Son(s) is sometimes used idiomatically in Hebrew to indicate that someone is characterized by a certain quality. So the expression “sons of violence” means that these individuals will be characterized by violent deeds.
28 tn Heb “to cause to stand.”
29 tn The words “your way” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
30 tc The LXX lacks “until the end.”
31 tn The word “receive” is added in the translation for clarification.
32 sn The deuterocanonical writings known as the Story of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon appear respectively as chapters 13 and 14 of the book of Daniel in the Greek version of this book. Although these writings are not part of the Hebrew/Aramaic text of Daniel, they were popular among certain early communities who valued traditions about the life of Daniel.