Daniel 3:9

3:9 They said ¹  to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! ² 

Daniel 5:10

5:10 Due to the noise ³  caused by the king and his nobles, the queen mother ⁴  then entered the banquet room. She ⁵  said, “O king, live forever! Don’t be alarmed! Don’t be shaken!

Daniel 6:6

6:6 So these supervisors and satraps came by collusion ⁶  to the king and said ⁷  to him, “O King Darius, live forever!

Daniel 6:21

6:21 Then Daniel spoke to ⁸  the king, “O king, live forever!

[3:9]  ¹ tn Aram “answered and said,” a common Aramaic idiom that occurs repeatedly in this chapter.

[3:9]  ² sn O king, live forever! is a comment of typical court courtesy that is not necessarily indicative of the real sentiments of the speaker. Ancient oriental court protocol could sometimes require a certain amount of hypocrisy.

[5:10]  ³ tn Aram “words of the king.”

[5:10]  ⁴ tn Aram “the queen” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). In the following discourse this woman is able to recall things about Daniel that go back to the days of Nebuchadnezzar, things that Belshazzar does not seem to recollect. It is likely that she was the wife not of Belshazzar but of Nabonidus or perhaps even Nebuchadnezzar. In that case, “queen” here means “queen mother” (cf. NCV “the king’s mother”).

[5:10]  ⁵ tn Aram “The queen.” The translation has used the pronoun “she” instead because repetition of the noun here would be redundant in terms of English style.

[6:6]  ⁶ tn The Aramaic verb רְגַשׁ (rÿgash) occurs three times in this chapter (vv. 7, 12, 16). Its meaning is widely disputed by commentators, and the versions vary considerably in how they render the word. The suggestion that it means “to come thronging” (BDB 1112 s.v.; cf. NAB) seems inappropriate, since it is unlikely that subordinates would enter a royal court in such a reckless fashion. The ancient versions struggled with the word and are not in agreement in their understanding of its meaning. In this chapter the word apparently means to act in agreement with other parties in the pursuit of a duplicitous goal, namely the entrapment of Daniel. Cf. NIV, NCV “went as a group”; NRSV “conspired and came to the king.”

[6:6]  ⁷ tn Aram “thus they were saying.”

[6:21]  ⁸ tn Aram “with.”