Footnotes

1. Daniel 7:1 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.
2. Daniel 7:1 tn Aram “saw.”
3. Daniel 7:1 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.
4. Daniel 7:1 tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV’s “the substance of his dream.”
5. Daniel 7:2 tn Aram “answered and said.”
6. Daniel 7:2 tn Aram “and behold.”
7. Daniel 7:2 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
8. Daniel 7:2 sn The referent of the great sea is unclear. The common view that the expression refers to the Mediterranean Sea is conjectural.
9. Daniel 7:4 tn Aram “heart of a man.”
10. Daniel 7:4 sn The identity of the first animal, derived from v. 17 and the parallels in chap. 2, is Babylon. The reference to the plucking of its wings is probably a reference to the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity (cf. chap. 4). The latter part of v. 4 then describes the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar. The other animals have traditionally been understood to represent respectively Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, although most of modern scholarship identifies them as Media, Persia, and Greece. For a biblical parallel to the mention of lion, bear, and leopard together, see Hos 13:7-8.
11. Daniel 7:5 tn Aram “and behold.”
12. Daniel 7:5 sn The three ribs held securely in the mouth of the bear, perhaps representing Media-Persia, apparently symbolize military conquest, but the exact identity of the “ribs” is not clear. Possibly it is a reference to the Persian conquest of Lydia, Egypt, and Babylonia.
13. Daniel 7:5 tc The LXX lacks the phrase “between its teeth.”
14. Daniel 7:5 tn Aram “and thus they were saying to it.”
15. Daniel 7:6 tn Aram “this,” as also in v. 7.
16. Daniel 7:6 tn Aram “and behold, another one.”
17. Daniel 7:6 tn Or “sides.”
18. Daniel 7:6 sn If the third animal is Greece, the most likely identification of these four heads is the fourfold division of the empire of Alexander the Great following his death (see note on Dan 8:8).
19. Daniel 7:7 tn The Aramaic text has also “and behold,” as also in vv. 8, 13.
20. Daniel 7:7 sn The fourth animal differs from the others in that it is nondescript. Apparently it was so fearsome that Daniel could find nothing with which to compare it. Attempts to identify this animal as an elephant or other known creature are conjectural.
21. Daniel 7:7 tn The Aramaic word for “teeth” is dual rather than plural, suggesting two rows of teeth.
22. Daniel 7:8 tn Aram “were uprooted from before it.”
23. Daniel 7:8 tn Aram “great,” as also in vv. 11, 20.
24. Daniel 7:9 tn Or “the Ancient One” (NAB, NRSV, NLT), although the traditional expression has been retained in the present translation because it is familiar to many readers (cf. TEV “One who had been living for ever”; CEV “the Eternal God”).
25. Daniel 7:9 tn Traditionally the Aramaic word נְקֵא (n^eqeʾ) has been rendered “pure,” but here it more likely means “of a lamb.” Cf. the Syriac neqyaʾ (“a sheep, ewe”). On this word, see further, M. Sokoloff, “ʾamar neqeʾ, ‘Lamb’s Wool’ (Dan 7:9),” JBL 95 (1976): 277-79.
26. Daniel 7:9 tn Aram “a flaming fire.”
27. Daniel 7:10 tn Aram “were standing before him.”
28. Daniel 7:10 tn Aram “judgment sat.”
29. Daniel 7:11 tc The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “I was watching” here. It is possible that these words in the MT are a dittography from the first part of the verse.
30. Daniel 7:11 tn Aram “and given over to” (so NRSV).
31. Daniel 7:12 tn Aram “a prolonging of life was granted to them.”
32. Daniel 7:13 tc The LXX has ἐπί (epi, “upon”) here (cf. Matt 24:30; 26:64). Theodotion has μετά (meta, “with”) here (cf. Mark 14:62; Rev 1:7).
33. Daniel 7:13 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
34. Daniel 7:13 sn This text is probably the main OT background for Jesus’ use of the term “son of man.” In both Jewish and Christian circles the reference in the book of Daniel has traditionally been understood to refer to an individual, usually in a messianic sense. Many modern scholars, however, understand the reference to have a corporate identity. In this view, the “son of man” is to be equated with the “holy ones” (vv. 18, 21, 22, 25) or the “people of the holy ones” (v. 27) and understood as a reference to the Jewish people. Others understand Daniel’s reference to be to the angel Michael.
35. Daniel 7:13 tn Aram “they brought him near.”
36. Daniel 7:14 tn Some take “serving” here in the sense of “worshiping.”
37. Daniel 7:14 tn Aram “is an eternal authority that will not pass away.”
38. Daniel 7:14 tn Aram “is one that will not be destroyed.”
39. Daniel 7:15 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.”
40. Daniel 7:15 tn Aram “head.”
41. Daniel 7:16 tn Aram “what is certain.”
42. Daniel 7:16 tn Aram “and made known.”
43. Daniel 7:16 tn Aram “matter,” but the matter at hand is of course the vision.
44. Daniel 7:18 sn The expression holy ones is either a reference to angels, to human beings devoted to God, or to both. The context is an earthly kingdom the holy ones will possess, and man was appointed to rule the earth (Gen 1:28). The holy ones are defeated and harassed by an earthly ruler in 7:21, 25, and human rulers cannot defeat and harass angels. So the holy ones are almost certainly human beings devoted to God.
45. Daniel 7:19 tn Aram “to make certain.”
46. Daniel 7:20 tn The words “I also wanted to know” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons.
47. Daniel 7:20 tc The conjunction in the MT before “eyes” is odd. The ancient versions do not seem to presuppose it.
48. Daniel 7:20 tn Aram “greater than its companions.”
49. Daniel 7:21 tn Aram “prevailing against” (KJV, ASV both similar); NASB “overpowering them”; TEV “conquered them.”
50. Daniel 7:22 tc In the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate the verb is active, understanding “judgment” to be the object rather than the subject of the verb (i.e., “the Ancient of Days rendered judgment”). This presupposes a different vocalization of the verb ( יְהַב [y^ehav] rather than the MT יְהִב [y^ehiv]).
51. Daniel 7:23 tn Aram “thus he said.”
52. Daniel 7:24 tn Or “subjugate”; KJV, NASB, NIV “subdue”; ASV, NRSV “put down.”
53. Daniel 7:25 tn Aram “wear out” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB, NLT “wear down.” The word is a hapax legomenon in biblical Aramaic, but in biblical Hebrew it especially refers to wearing out such things as garments. Here it is translated “harass…continually.”
54. Daniel 7:25 tn Aram “he will think.”
55. Daniel 7:25 tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.
56. Daniel 7:25 sn Although the word times is vocalized in the MT as a plural, it probably should be regarded as a dual. The Masoretes may have been influenced here by the fact that in late Aramaic (and Syriac) the dual forms fall out of use. The meaning would thus be three and a half “times.”
57. Daniel 7:26 tn Aram “judgment will sit” (KJV similar).
58. Daniel 7:27 tn If the “holy ones” are angels, then this probably refers to the angels as protectors of God’s people. If the “holy ones” are God’s people, then this is an appositional construction, “the people who are the holy ones.” See 8:24 for the corresponding Hebrew phrase and the note there.
59. Daniel 7:28 tn Aram “my brightness was changing on me.”
60. Daniel 7:28 tn Aram “in my heart.”