4:33 Now in that very moment 1 this pronouncement about 2 Nebuchadnezzar came true. 3 He was driven from human society, he ate grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until his hair became long like an eagle’s feathers, and his nails like a bird’s claws. 4
1:18 When the time appointed by the king arrived, 11 the overseer of the court officials brought them into Nebuchadnezzar’s presence.
4:3 “How great are his signs!
How mighty are his wonders!
His kingdom will last forever, 12
and his authority continues from one generation to the next.”
4:34 But at the end of the appointed time 15 I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up 16 toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me.
I extolled the Most High,
and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever.
For his authority is an everlasting authority,
and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next.
12:1 “At that time Michael,
the great prince who watches over your people, 20
will arise. 21
There will be a time of distress
unlike any other from the nation’s beginning 22
up to that time.
But at that time your own people,
all those whose names are 23 found written in the book,
will escape.
1 tn Aram “hour.”
2 tn Or “on.”
3 tn Aram “was fulfilled.”
4 tn The words “feathers” and “claws” are not present in the Aramaic text, but have been added in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “lifted my eyes.”
6 tn Heb “and behold.”
7 tn Heb “one.” The Hebrew numerical adjective occasionally functions like an English indefinite article. See GKC 401 §125.b.
8 tn Heb “high” (also “higher” later in this verse).
9 tn Heb “the he-goat, the buck.” The expression is odd, and the second word may be an explanatory gloss.
10 tn Heb “Javan.”
11 tn Heb “at the end of the days which the king said to bring them.”
12 tn Aram “his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”
13 tn The meaning of Aramaic דַּחֲוָה (dakhavah) is a crux interpretum. Suggestions include “music,” “dancing girls,” “concubines,” “table,” “food” – all of which are uncertain. The translation employed here, suggested by earlier scholars, is deliberately vague. A number of recent English versions follow a similar approach with “entertainment” (e.g., NASB, NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT). On this word see further, HALOT 1849-50 s.v.; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 37.
14 tn Aram “his sleep fled from him.”
15 tn Aram “days.”
16 tn Aram “lifted up my eyes.”
17 tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”
18 tn Heb “our judges.”
19 tn Heb “who judged.”
20 tn Heb “stands over the sons of your people.”
21 tn Heb “will stand up.”
22 tn Or “from the beginning of a nation.”
23 tn The words “whose names are” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.