6:10 When Daniel realized 6 that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows 7 in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. 8 Three 9 times daily he was 10 kneeling 11 and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously.
9:7 “You are righteous, 16 O Lord, but we are humiliated this day 17 – the people 18 of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you.
9:25 So know and understand:
From the issuing of the command 19 to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem 20 until an anointed one, a prince arrives, 21
there will be a period of seven weeks 22 and sixty-two weeks.
It will again be built, 23 with plaza and moat,
but in distressful times.
1 tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).
2 tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.
3 tn Or “taken.”
4 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
5 sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.
6 tn Aram “knew.”
7 sn In later rabbinic thought this verse was sometimes cited as a proof text for the notion that one should pray only in a house with windows. See b. Berakhot 34b.
8 map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
9 sn This is apparently the only specific mention in the OT of prayer being regularly offered three times a day. The practice was probably not unique to Daniel, however.
10 tc Read with several medieval Hebrew
11 tn Aram “kneeling on his knees” (so NASB).
sn No specific posture for offering prayers is prescribed in the OT. Kneeling, as here, and standing were both practiced.
12 tc This phrase, repeated from v. 1, is absent in Theodotion.
13 tn The Hebrew text has “books”; the word “sacred” has been added in the translation to clarify that it is Scriptures that are referred to.
14 sn The tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters which constitute the divine Name, YHWH) appears eight times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the book of Daniel.
15 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
16 tn Heb “to you (belongs) righteousness.”
17 tn Heb “and to us (belongs) shame of face like this day.”
18 tn Heb “men.”
19 tn Or “decree” (NASB, NIV); or “word” (NAB, NRSV).
20 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
21 tn The word “arrives” is added in the translation for clarification.
22 tn Heb “sevens” (also later in this line and in v. 26).
sn The accents in the MT indicate disjunction at this point, which would make it difficult, if not impossible, to identify the “anointed one/prince” of this verse as messianic. The reference in v. 26 to the sixty-two weeks as a unit favors the MT accentuation, not the traditional translation. If one follows the MT accentuation, one may translate “From the going forth of the message to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, a prince arrives, there will be a period of seven weeks. During a period of sixty-two weeks it will again be built, with plaza and moat, but in distressful times.” The present translation follows a traditional reading of the passage that deviates from the MT accentuation.
23 tn Heb “it will return and be built.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.