Daniel 1:1

Daniel Finds Favor in Babylon

1:1 In the third ¹  year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar ²  of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem ³  and laid it under siege. ⁴ 

Daniel 3:17

3:17 If ⁵  our God whom we are serving exists, ⁶  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 4:26

4:26 They said to leave the taproot of the tree, for your kingdom will be restored to you when you come to understand that heaven ⁷  rules.

Daniel 7:22

7:22 until the Ancient of Days arrived and judgment was rendered ⁸  in favor of the holy ones of the Most High. Then the time came for the holy ones to take possession of the kingdom.

Daniel 8:26

8:26 The vision of the evenings and mornings that was told to you is correct. ⁹  But you should seal up the vision, for it refers to a time many days from now.”

Daniel 11:38

11:38 What he will honor is a god of fortresses – a god his fathers did not acknowledge he will honor with gold, silver, valuable stones, and treasured commodities.

Daniel 11:45

11:45 He will pitch his royal tents between the seas ¹⁰  toward the beautiful holy mountain. But he will come to his end, with no one to help him.

[1:1]  ¹ sn The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim would be ca. 605 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been a teenager. The reference to Jehoiakim’s third year poses a serious crux interpretum, since elsewhere these events are linked to his fourth year (Jer 25:1; cf. 2 Kgs 24:1; 2 Chr 36:5-8). Apparently Daniel is following an accession year chronology, whereby the first partial year of a king’s reign was reckoned as the accession year rather than as the first year of his reign. Jeremiah, on the other hand, is following a nonaccession year chronology, whereby the accession year is reckoned as the first year of the king’s reign. In that case, the conflict is only superficial. Most modern scholars, however, have concluded that Daniel is historically inaccurate here.

[1:1]  ² sn King Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon from ca. 605-562 B.C.

[1:1]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:1]  ⁴ sn This attack culminated in the first of three major deportations of Jews to Babylon. The second one occurred in 597 B.C. and included among many other Jewish captives the prophet Ezekiel. The third deportation occurred in 586 B.C., at which time the temple and the city of Jerusalem were thoroughly destroyed.

[3:17]  ⁵ tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

[3:17]  ⁶ 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.

[4:26]  ⁷ sn The reference to heaven here is a circumlocution for God. There was a tendency in Jewish contexts to avoid direct reference to God. Cf. the expression “kingdom of heaven” in the NT and such statements as “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight” (Luke 15:21).

[7:22]  ⁸ tc In the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate the verb is active, understanding “judgment” to be the object rather than the subject of the verb (i.e., “the Ancient of Days rendered judgment”). This presupposes a different vocalization of the verb ( יְהַב [yÿhav] rather than the MT יְהִב [yÿhiv]).

[8:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “truth.”

[11:45]  ¹⁰ sn Presumably seas refers to the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea.