Daniel 5:30

5:30 And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, ¹  was killed. ² 

Daniel 7:1

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

7:1 In the first ³  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had ⁴  a dream filled with visions ⁵  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. ⁶ 

[5:30]  ¹ tn Aram “king of the Chaldeans.”

[5:30]  ² sn The year was 539 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been approximately eighty-one years old. The relevant extra-biblical records describing the fall of Babylon include portions of Herodotus, Xenophon, Berossus (cited in Josephus), the Cyrus Cylinder, and the Babylonian Chronicle.

[7:1]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Aram “saw.”

[7:1]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”