Daniel 2:28

2:28 However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, ¹  and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the times to come. ²  The dream and the visions you had while lying on your bed ³  are as follows.

Daniel 2:31

2:31 “You, O king, were watching as a great statue – one ⁴  of impressive size and extraordinary brightness – was standing before you. Its appearance caused alarm.

Daniel 3:3

3:3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial authorities assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. They were standing in front of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had erected. ⁵ 

Daniel 4:5

4:5 I saw a dream that ⁶  frightened me badly. The things I imagined while lying on my bed – these visions of my mind – were terrifying me.

Daniel 4:10

4:10 Here are the visions of my mind ⁷  while I was on my bed.

While I was watching,

there was a tree in the middle of the land. ⁸ 

It was enormously tall. ⁹ 

Daniel 4:13

4:13 While I was watching in my mind’s visions ¹⁰  on my bed,

a holy sentinel ¹¹  came down from heaven.

Daniel 5:1

Belshazzar Sees Mysterious Handwriting on a Wall

5:1 King Belshazzar ¹²  prepared a great banquet ¹³  for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of ¹⁴  them all. ¹⁵ 

Daniel 5:5

5:5 At that very moment the fingers of a human hand appeared ¹⁶  and wrote on the plaster of the royal palace wall, opposite the lampstand. ¹⁷  The king was watching the back ¹⁸  of the hand that was writing.

Daniel 6:10

6:10 When Daniel realized ¹⁹  that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows ²⁰  in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. ²¹  Three ²²  times daily he was ²³  kneeling ²⁴  and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously.

Daniel 7:1

Daniel has a Vision of Four Animals Coming up from the Sea

7:1 In the first ²⁵  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had ²⁶  a dream filled with visions ²⁷  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. ²⁸ 

Daniel 7:15

An Angel Interprets Daniel’s Vision

7:15 “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed, ²⁹  and the visions of my mind ³⁰  were alarming me.

Daniel 8:3

8:3 I looked up ³¹  and saw ³²  a ³³  ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long, ³⁴  but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one.

Daniel 8:6

8:6 It came to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed against it with raging strength. ³⁵ 

Daniel 8:15

An Angel Interprets Daniel’s Vision

8:15 While I, Daniel, was watching the vision, I sought to understand it. Now one who appeared to be a man was standing before me.

Daniel 8:17

8:17 So he approached the place where I was standing. As he came, I felt terrified and fell flat on the ground. ³⁶  Then he said to me, “Understand, son of man, ³⁷  that the vision pertains to the time of the end.”

Daniel 8:26

8:26 The vision of the evenings and mornings that was told to you is correct. ³⁸  But you should seal up the vision, for it refers to a time many days from now.”

Daniel 10:14

10:14 Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to future days.”

Daniel 10:16

10:16 Then ³⁹  one who appeared to be a human being ⁴⁰  was touching my lips. I opened my mouth and started to speak, saying to the one who was standing before me, “Sir, ⁴¹  due to the vision, anxiety has gripped me and I have no strength.

Daniel 11:20

11:20 There will arise after him ⁴²  one ⁴³  who will send out an exactor ⁴⁴  of tribute to enhance the splendor of the kingdom, but after a few days he will be destroyed, ⁴⁵  though not in anger or battle.

Daniel 11:22

11:22 Armies ⁴⁶  will be suddenly ⁴⁷  swept away in defeat ⁴⁸  before him; both they and a covenant leader ⁴⁹  will be destroyed. ⁵⁰ 

Daniel 12:13

12:13 But you should go your way ⁵¹  until the end. ⁵²  You will rest and then at the end of the days you will arise to receive ⁵³  what you have been allotted.” ⁵⁴ 

[2:28]  ¹ tn Aram “a revealer of mysteries.” The phrase serves as a quasi-title for God in Daniel.

[2:28]  ² tn Aram “in the latter days.”

[2:28]  ³ tn Aram “your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed.”

[2:31]  ⁴ tn Aram “an image.”

[3:3]  ⁵ tc The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.”

[4:5]  ⁶ tn Aram “and it.”

[4:10]  ⁷ tc The LXX lacks the first two words (Aram “the visions of my head”) of the Aramaic text.

[4:10]  ⁸ tn Instead of “in the middle of the land,” some English versions render this phrase “a tree at the center of the earth” (NRSV); NAB, CEV “of the world”; NLT “in the middle of the earth.” The Hebrew phrase can have either meaning.

[4:10]  ⁹ tn Aram “its height was great.”

[4:13]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “the visions of my head.”

[4:13]  ¹¹ tn Aram “a watcher and a holy one.” The expression is a hendiadys; so also in v. 23. This “watcher” is apparently an angel. The Greek OT (LXX) in fact has ἄγγελος (angelo", “angel”) here. Theodotion simply transliterates the Aramaic word (’ir). The term is sometimes rendered “sentinel” (NAB) or “messenger” (NIV, NLT).

[5:1]  ¹² sn As is clear from the extra-biblical records, it was actually Nabonidus (ca. 556-539 B.C.) who was king of Babylon at this time. However, Nabonidus spent long periods of time at Teima, and during those times Belshazzar his son was de facto king of Babylon. This arrangement may help to explain why later in this chapter Belshazzar promises that the successful interpreter of the handwriting on the wall will be made third ruler in the kingdom. If Belshazzar was in effect second ruler in the kingdom, this would be the highest honor he could grant.

[5:1]  ¹³ sn This scene of a Babylonian banquet calls to mind a similar grandiose event recorded in Esth 1:3-8. Persian kings were also renowned in the ancient Near Eastern world for their lavish banquets.

[5:1]  ¹⁴ sn The king probably sat at an elevated head table.

[5:1]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “the thousand.”

[5:5]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “came forth.”

[5:5]  ¹⁷ sn The mention of the lampstand in this context is of interest because it suggests that the writing was in clear view.

[5:5]  ¹⁸ tn While Aramaic פַּס (pas) can mean the palm of the hand, here it seems to be the back of the hand that is intended.

[6:10]  ¹⁹ tn Aram “knew.”

[6:10]  ²⁰ sn In later rabbinic thought this verse was sometimes cited as a proof text for the notion that one should pray only in a house with windows. See b. Berakhot 34b.

[6:10]  ²¹ map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:10]  ²² sn This is apparently the only specific mention in the OT of prayer being regularly offered three times a day. The practice was probably not unique to Daniel, however.

[6:10]  ²³ tc Read with several medieval Hebrew MSS and printed editions הֲוָה (havah) rather than the MT הוּא (hu’).

[6:10]  ²⁴ tn Aram “kneeling on his knees” (so NASB).

[6:10]  sn No specific posture for offering prayers is prescribed in the OT. Kneeling, as here, and standing were both practiced.

[7:1]  ²⁵ sn The first year of Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 553 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 67 years old at the time of this vision.

[7:1]  ²⁶ tn Aram “saw.”

[7:1]  ²⁷ tn Aram “and visions of his head.” The Aramaic is difficult here. Some scholars add a verb thought to be missing (e.g., “the visions of his head [were alarming him]”), but there is no external evidence to support such a decision and the awkwardness of the text at this point may be original.

[7:1]  ²⁸ tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”

[7:15]  ²⁹ tn The Aramaic text includes the phrase “in its sheath,” apparently viewing the body as a container or receptacle for the spirit somewhat like a sheath or scabbard is for a knife or a sword (cf. NAB “within its sheath of flesh”). For this phrase the LXX and Vulgate have “in these things.”

[7:15]  ³⁰ tn Aram “head.”

[8:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “lifted my eyes.”

[8:3]  ³² tn Heb “and behold.”

[8:3]  ³³ tn Heb “one.” The Hebrew numerical adjective occasionally functions like an English indefinite article. See GKC 401 §125.b.

[8:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “high” (also “higher” later in this verse).

[8:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the wrath of its strength.”

[8:17]  ³⁶ tn Heb “on my face.”

[8:17]  ³⁷ tn Or “human one.”

[8:26]  ³⁸ tn Heb “truth.”

[10:16]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Behold.”

[10:16]  ⁴⁰ tc So most Hebrew MSS; one Hebrew MS along with the Dead Sea Scrolls and LXX read “something that looked like a man’s hand.”

[10:16]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “my lord,” here a title of polite address. Cf. v. 19.

[11:20]  ⁴² tn Heb “on his place.”

[11:20]  ⁴³ sn The one who will send out an exactor of tribute was Seleucus IV Philopator (ca. 187-176 B.C.).

[11:20]  ⁴⁴ sn Perhaps this exactor of tribute was Heliodorus (cf. 2 Maccabees 3).

[11:20]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “broken” or “shattered.”

[11:22]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “arms.”

[11:22]  ⁴⁷ tc The present translation reads הִשָּׁטֹף (hishatof), Niphal infinitive absolute of שָׁטַף (shataf, “to overflow”), for the MT הַשֶּׁטֶף (hashetef, “flood”).

[11:22]  ⁴⁸ tn The words “in defeat” are added in the translation for clarification.

[11:22]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “a prince of the covenant.”

[11:22]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “broken” or “shattered.”

[12:13]  ⁵¹ tn The words “your way” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[12:13]  ⁵² tc The LXX lacks “until the end.”

[12:13]  ⁵³ tn The word “receive” is added in the translation for clarification.

[12:13]  ⁵⁴ sn The deuterocanonical writings known as the Story of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon appear respectively as chapters 13 and 14 of the book of Daniel in the Greek version of this book. Although these writings are not part of the Hebrew/Aramaic text of Daniel, they were popular among certain early communities who valued traditions about the life of Daniel.