Discovery BoxDaniel 2:5 
Context2:5 The king replied 1 to the wise men, “My decision is firm. 2 If you do not inform me of both the dream and its interpretation, you will be dismembered 3 and your homes reduced to rubble!
Daniel 4:9
Context4:9 saying, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, in whom I know there to be a spirit of the holy gods and whom no mystery baffles, consider 4 my dream that I saw and set forth its interpretation!
Daniel 4:21
Context4:21 whose foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful, and from which there was food available for all, under whose branches wild animals 5 used to live, and in whose branches birds of the sky used to nest –
Daniel 5:15
Context5:15 Now the wise men and 6 astrologers were brought before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation. But they were unable to disclose the interpretation of the message.
Daniel 5:17
Context5:17 But Daniel replied to the king, “Keep your gifts, and give your rewards to someone else! However, I will read the writing for the king and make known its 7 interpretation.
Daniel 7:6
Context7:6 “After these things, 8 as I was watching, another beast 9 like a leopard appeared, with four bird-like wings on its back. 10 This beast had four heads, 11 and ruling authority was given to it.
Daniel 7:11
Context7:11 “Then I kept on watching because of the arrogant words of the horn that was speaking. I was watching 12 until the beast was killed and its body destroyed and thrown into 13 the flaming fire.
Daniel 8:3-5
Context8:3 I looked up 14 and saw 15 a 16 ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long, 17 but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one. 8:4 I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal 18 was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power. 19 It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly. 20
8:5 While I was contemplating all this, 21 a male goat 22 was coming from the west over the surface of all the land 23 without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn 24 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 25 in its place, 26 extending toward the four winds of the sky. 27
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. 28
1 tn Aram “answered and said,” a common idiom to indicate a reply, but redundant in contemporary English.
2 tn It seems clear from what follows that Nebuchadnezzar clearly recalls the content of the dream, although obviously he does not know what to make of it. By not divulging the dream itself to the would-be interpreters, he intends to find out whether they are simply leading him on. If they can tell him the dream’s content, which he is able to verify, he then can have confidence in their interpretation, which is what eludes him. The translation “the matter is gone from me” (cf. KJV, ASV), suggesting that the king had simply forgotten the dream, is incorrect. The Aramaic word used here (אַזְדָּא, ’azda’) is probably of Persian origin; it occurs in the OT only here and in v. 8. There are two main possibilities for the meaning of the word: “the matter is promulgated by me” (see KBL 1048 s.v.) and therefore “publicly known” (cf. NRSV; F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 62-63, §189), or “the matter is irrevocable” (cf. NAB, NIV, TEV, CEV, NLT; HALOT 1808 s.v. אזד; cf. also BDB 1079 s.v.). The present translation reflects this latter option. See further E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 3.
3 tn Aram “made limbs.” Cf. 3:29.
4 tc The present translation assumes the reading חֲזִי (khazi, “consider”) rather than the MT חֶזְוֵי (khezvey, “visions”). The MT implies that the king required Daniel to disclose both the dream and its interpretation, as in chapter 2. But in the following verses Nebuchadnezzar recounts his dream, while Daniel presents only its interpretation.
5 tn Aram “the beasts of the field” (also in vv. 23, 25, 32).
6 tn The Aramaic text does not have “and.” The term “astrologers” is either an appositive for “wise men” (cf. KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV), or the construction is to be understood as asyndetic (so the translation above).
7 tn Or “the.”
8 tn Aram “this.” So also in v. 7.
9 tn Aram “and behold, another one.”
10 tn Or “sides.”
11 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.
12 tc The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “I was watching” here. It is possible that these words in the MT are a dittography from the first part of the verse.
13 tn Aram “and given over to” (so NRSV).
14 tn Heb “lifted my eyes.”
15 tn Heb “and behold.”
16 tn Heb “one.” The Hebrew numerical adjective occasionally functions like an English indefinite article. See GKC 401 §125.b.
17 tn Heb “high” (also “higher” later in this verse).
18 tn Or “beast” (NAB).
19 tn Heb “hand.” So also in v. 7.
20 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.
21 tn The words “all this” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
22 tn Heb “and behold, a he-goat of the goats.”
23 tn Or “of the whole earth” (NAB, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
24 tn Heb “a horn of vision” [or “conspicuousness”], i.e., “a conspicuous horn,” one easily seen.
25 tn The word “horns” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
26 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.
27 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
28 tn Heb “hand.”
