Discovery BoxDaniel 2:38 
Context2:38 Wherever human beings, 1 wild animals, 2 and birds of the sky live – he has given them into your power. 3 He has given you authority over them all. You are the head of gold.
Daniel 3:17
Context3:17 If 4 our God whom we are serving exists, 5 he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.
Daniel 8:4
Context8:4 I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal 6 was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power. 7 It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly. 8
Daniel 8:24
Context8:24 His power will be great, but it will not be by his strength alone. He will cause terrible destruction. 9 He will be successful in what he undertakes. 10 He will destroy powerful people and the people of the holy ones. 11
Daniel 9:15
Context9:15 “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power 12 and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day – we have sinned and behaved wickedly.
Daniel 11:16
Context11:16 The one advancing against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand before him. He will prevail in the beautiful land, and its annihilation will be within his power. 13
1 tn Aram “the sons of man.”
2 tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”
3 tn Aram “hand.”
4 tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.
5 tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.
6 tn Or “beast” (NAB).
7 tn Heb “hand.” So also in v. 7.
8 tn In the Hiphil the Hebrew verb גָּדַל (gadal, “to make great; to magnify”) can have either a positive or a negative sense. For the former, used especially of God, see Ps 126:2, 3; Joel 2:21. In this chapter (8:4, 8, 11, 25) the word has a pejorative sense, describing the self-glorification of this king. The sense seems to be that of vainly assuming one’s own superiority through deliberate hubris.
9 tn Heb “extraordinarily he will destroy.”
10 tn Heb “he will succeed and act.”
11 tn See the corresponding Aramaic expression in 7:27. If the “holy ones” are angels, then this probably refers to the angels as protectors of God’s people. One could translate, “people belonging to (i.e., protected by) the holy ones.” If the “holy ones” are God’s people, then this is an appositional construction, “the people who are the holy ones.” One could translate simply “holy people.” For examples of a plural appositional genitive after “people,” see 11:15, 32. Because either interpretation is possible, the translation has deliberately preserved the ambiguity of the Hebrew grammar here.
12 tn Heb “with a powerful hand.”
13 tn Heb “hand.”
