Daniel 5:6

5:6 Then all the color drained from the king’s face ¹  and he became alarmed. ²  The joints of his hips gave way, ³  and his knees began knocking together.

Daniel 5:9-10

5:9 Then King Belshazzar was very terrified, and he was visibly shaken. ⁴  His nobles were completely dumbfounded.

5:10 Due to the noise ⁵  caused by the king and his nobles, the queen mother ⁶  then entered the banquet room. She ⁷  said, “O king, live forever! Don’t be alarmed! Don’t be shaken!

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¹ tn Aram “[the king’s] brightness changed for him.”

² tn Aram “his thoughts were alarming him.”

³ tn Aram “his loins went slack.”

⁴ tn Aram “his visage altered upon him.” So also in v. 10.

⁵ tn Aram “words of the king.”

⁶ 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”).

⁷ 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.