Daniel 7:1

Daniel has a Vision of Four Animals Coming up from the Sea

7:1 In the first 1  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had 2  a dream filled with visions 3  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. 4 

1 sn The first year of Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 553 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 67 years old at the time of this vision.

2 tn Aram “saw.”

3 tn Aram “and visions of his head.” The Aramaic is difficult here. Some scholars add a verb thought to be missing (e.g., “the visions of his head [were alarming him]”), but there is no external evidence to support such a decision and the awkwardness of the text at this point may be original.

4 tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”