¹ tn Heb “from all of them.”

² tn Heb “stood before the king.”

³ tn Heb “said.” So also in v. 12.

⁴ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” The term Chaldeans (Hebrew כַּשְׂדִּים, kasdim) is used in the book of Daniel both in an ethnic sense and, as here, to refer to a caste of Babylonian wise men and astrologers.

⁵ tn Heb “to explain to the king his dreams.”

⁶ tn Heb “stood before the king.”

⁷ tn Aram “whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

⁸ sn Arioch’s claim is self-serving and exaggerated. It is Daniel who came to him, and not the other way around. By claiming to have found one capable of solving the king’s dilemma, Arioch probably hoped to ingratiate himself to the king.

⁹ tn Aram “and Daniel sought from the king and he appointed.”

¹⁰ tn Aram “was at the gate of the king.”

¹¹ tn Aram “in the mouth of the king.”

¹² tn Aram “to you they say.”

¹³ tn Aram “words of the king.”

¹⁴ 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”).

¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ tn Or “the.”

¹⁷ tn Aram “from the sons of the captivity [of].”

¹⁸ tn Aram “prays his prayer.”

¹⁹ tn Aram “said.” So also in vv. 24, 25.

²⁰ sn The den was perhaps a pit below ground level which could be safely observed from above.

²¹ tn Aram “answered and said [to Daniel].”

²² sn This king of the south refers to Ptolemy IV Philopator (ca. 221-204 B.C.).