Discovery BoxDaniel 1:17 
Context1:17 Now as for these four young men, God endowed them with knowledge and skill in all sorts of literature and wisdom – and Daniel had insight into all kinds of visions and dreams.
Daniel 2:14
Context2:14 Then Daniel spoke with prudent counsel 1 to Arioch, who was in charge of the king’s executioners and who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon.
Daniel 3:1-2
Context3:1 2 King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden 3 statue made. 4 It was ninety feet 5 tall and nine feet 6 wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 3:2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent out a summons to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, 7 and all the other authorities of the province to attend the dedication of the statue that he 8 had erected.
Daniel 5:3
Context5:3 So they brought the gold and silver 9 vessels that had been confiscated from the temple, the house of God 10 in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, together with his wives and concubines, drank from them.
Daniel 6:3
Context6:3 Now this Daniel was distinguishing himself above the other supervisors and the satraps, for he had an extraordinary spirit. In fact, the king intended to appoint him over the entire kingdom.
Daniel 7:1
Context7:1 In the first 11 year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had 12 a dream filled with visions 13 while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. 14
Daniel 7:6
Context7:6 “After these things, 15 as I was watching, another beast 16 like a leopard appeared, with four bird-like wings on its back. 17 This beast had four heads, 18 and ruling authority was given to it.
Daniel 8:5
Context8:5 While I was contemplating all this, 19 a male goat 20 was coming from the west over the surface of all the land 21 without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn 22 between its eyes.
Daniel 8:8
Context8:8 The male goat acted even more arrogantly. But no sooner had the large horn become strong than it was broken, and there arose four conspicuous horns 23 in its place, 24 extending toward the four winds of the sky. 25
Daniel 9:21
Context9:21 yes, while I was still praying, 26 the man Gabriel, whom I had seen previously 27 in a vision, was approaching me in my state of extreme weariness, 28 around the time of the evening offering.
1 tn Aram “returned prudence and counsel.” The expression is a hendiadys.
2 sn The LXX introduces this chapter with the following chronological note: “in the eighteenth year of.” Such a date would place these events at about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586
3 sn There is no need to think of Nebuchadnezzar’s image as being solid gold. No doubt the sense is that it was overlaid with gold (cf. Isa 40:19; Jer 10:3-4), with the result that it presented a dazzling self-compliment to the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar’s achievements.
4 sn According to a number of patristic authors, the image represented a deification of Nebuchadnezzar himself. This is not clear from the biblical text, however.
5 tn Aram “sixty cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 90 feet (27.4 m) high.
6 tn Aram “six cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 9 feet (2.74 m) wide.
sn The dimensions of the image (ninety feet high and nine feet wide) imply that it did not possess normal human proportions, unless a base for the image is included in the height dimension. The ancient world knew of other tall statues. For example, the Colossus of Rhodes – the huge statue of Helios which stood (ca. 280-224
7 sn The specific duties of the seven types of officials listed here (cf. vv. 3, 27) are unclear. The Aramaic words that are used are transliterations of Akkadian or Persian technical terms whose exact meanings are uncertain. The translations given here follow suggestions set forth in BDB.
8 tn Aram “Nebuchadnezzar the king.” The proper name and title have been replaced by the relative pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9 tc The present translation reads וְכַסְפָּא (vÿkhaspa’, “and the silver”) with Theodotion and the Vulgate. Cf. v. 2. The form was probably accidentally dropped from the Aramaic text by homoioteleuton.
10 tn Aram “the temple of the house of God.” The phrase seems rather awkward. The Vulgate lacks “of the house of God,” while Theodotion and the Syriac lack “the house.”
11 sn The first year of Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 553
12 tn Aram “saw.”
13 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.
14 tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”
15 tn Aram “this.” So also in v. 7.
16 tn Aram “and behold, another one.”
17 tn Or “sides.”
18 sn If the third animal is Greece, the most likely identification of these four heads is the four-fold division of the empire of Alexander the Great following his death. See note on Dan 8:8.
19 tn The words “all this” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
20 tn Heb “and behold, a he-goat of the goats.”
21 tn Or “of the whole earth” (NAB, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
22 tn Heb “a horn of vision” [or “conspicuousness”], i.e., “a conspicuous horn,” one easily seen.
23 tn The word “horns” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
24 sn The four conspicuous horns refer to Alexander’s successors. After his death, Alexander’s empire was divided up among four of his generals: Cassander, who took Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus, who took Thrace and parts of Asia Minor; Seleucus, who took Syria and territory to its east; and Ptolemy, who took control of Egypt.
25 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
26 tn Heb “speaking in prayer.”
27 tn Heb “in the beginning.”
28 tn The Hebrew expression בִּיעָף מֻעָף (mu’af bi’af) is very difficult. The issue is whether the verb derives from עוּף (’uf, “to fly”) or from יָעַף (ya’af, “to be weary”). Many ancient versions and modern commentators take the first of these possibilities and understand the reference to be to the swift flight of the angel Gabriel in his coming to Daniel. The words more likely refer to the extreme weariness, not of the angel, but of Daniel. Cf. 7:28; 8:27; 10:8-9, 16-17; also NASB.
