Daniel 3:28

3:28 Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, ¹  “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel ²  and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring ³  the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than ⁴  serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!

Daniel 11:2

11:2 Now I will tell you the truth.

The Angel Gives a Message to Daniel

“Three ⁵  more kings will arise for Persia. Then a fourth ⁶  king will be unusually rich, ⁷  more so than all who preceded him. When he has amassed power through his riches, he will stir up everyone against ⁸  the kingdom of Greece.

[3:28]  ¹ tn Aram “answered and said.”

[3:28]  ² sn The king identifies the “son of the gods” (v. 25) as an angel. Comparable Hebrew expressions are used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible for the members of God’s angelic assembly (see Gen 6:2, 4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Pss 29:1; 89:6). An angel later comes to rescue Daniel from the lions (Dan 6:22).

[3:28]  ³ tn Aram “they changed” or “violated.”

[3:28]  ⁴ tn Aram “so that they might not.”

[11:2]  ⁵ sn Perhaps these three more kings are Cambyses (ca. 530-522 B.C.), Pseudo-Smerdis (ca. 522 B.C.), and Darius I Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.).

[11:2]  ⁶ sn This fourth king is Xerxes I (ca. 486-465 B.C.). The following reference to one of his chiefs apparently has in view Seleucus Nicator.

[11:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “rich with great riches.”

[11:2]  ⁸ tn The text is difficult. The Hebrew has here אֶת (’et), the marker of a definite direct object. As it stands, this would suggest the meaning that “he will arouse everyone, that is, the kingdom of Greece.” The context, however, seems to suggest the idea that this Persian king will arouse in hostility against Greece the constituent elements of his own empire. This requires supplying the word “against,” which is not actually present in the Hebrew text.