Daniel 2:34

2:34 You were watching as ¹  a stone was cut out, ²  but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces.

Daniel 3:1

Daniel’s Friends Are Tested

3:1 ³ King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden ⁴  statue made. ⁵  It was ninety feet ⁶  tall and nine feet ⁷  wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

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. ⁸ 

Daniel 3:25

3:25 He answered, “But I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!” ⁹ 

Daniel 4:8

4:8 Later Daniel entered (whose name is Belteshazzar after the name of my god, ¹⁰  and in whom there is a spirit of the holy gods). I recounted the dream for him as well,

Daniel 6:3

6:3 Now this Daniel was distinguishing himself above the other supervisors and the satraps, for he had an extraordinary spirit. In fact, the king intended to appoint him over the entire kingdom.

Daniel 8:22

8:22 The horn that was broken ¹¹  and in whose place there arose four others stands for four kingdoms that will arise from his nation, though they will not have his strength.

Daniel 8:26

8:26 The vision of the evenings and mornings that was told to you is correct. ¹²  But you should seal up the vision, for it refers to a time many days from now.”

Daniel 11:14

11:14 “In those times many will oppose ¹³  the king of the south. ¹⁴  Those who are violent ¹⁵  among your own people will rise up in confirmation of ¹⁶  the vision, but they will falter.

[2:34]  ¹ tn Aram “until.”

[2:34]  ² tc The LXX, Theodotion, and the Vulgate have “from a mountain,” though this is probably a harmonization with v. 45.

[3:1]  ³ sn The LXX introduces this chapter with the following chronological note: “in the eighteenth year of.” Such a date would place these events at about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. (cf. 2 Kgs 25:8). However, there seems to be no real basis for associating the events of Daniel 3 with this date.

[3:1]  ⁴ sn There is no need to think of Nebuchadnezzar’s image as being solid gold. No doubt the sense is that it was overlaid with gold (cf. Isa 40:19; Jer 10:3-4), with the result that it presented a dazzling self-compliment to the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar’s achievements.

[3:1]  ⁵ sn According to a number of patristic authors, the image represented a deification of Nebuchadnezzar himself. This is not clear from the biblical text, however.

[3:1]  ⁶ tn Aram “sixty cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 90 feet (27.4 m) high.

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Aram “six cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 9 feet (2.74 m) wide.

[3:1]  sn The dimensions of the image (ninety feet high and nine feet wide) imply that it did not possess normal human proportions, unless a base for the image is included in the height dimension. The ancient world knew of other tall statues. For example, the Colossus of Rhodes – the huge statue of Helios which stood (ca. 280-224 B.C.) at the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes and was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – was said to be seventy cubits (105 ft or 32 m) in height, which would make it even taller than Nebuchadnezzar’s image.

[3:3]  ⁸ tc The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.”

[3:25]  ⁹ sn The phrase like that of a god is in Aramaic “like that of a son of the gods.” Many patristic writers understood this phrase in a christological sense (i.e., “the Son of God”). But it should be remembered that these are words spoken by a pagan who is seeking to explain things from his own polytheistic frame of reference; for him the phrase “like a son of the gods” is equivalent to “like a divine being.”

[4:8]  ¹⁰ sn This explanation of the meaning of the name Belteshazzar may be more of a paronomasia than a strict etymology.

[8:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the broken one.” The word “horn” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.

[8:26]  ¹² tn Heb “truth.”

[11:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “stand against.”

[11:14]  ¹⁴ sn This was Ptolemy V Epiphanes (ca. 203-181 B.C.).

[11:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “sons of violence.” “Son(s) is sometimes used idiomatically in Hebrew to indicate that someone is characterized by a certain quality. So the expression “sons of violence” means that these individuals will be characterized by violent deeds.

[11:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to cause to stand.”