translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DAN

label: NET study note

text: Beginning with 4:1 , the verse numbers through 4:37 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Aramaic text ( BHS ), with 4:1 ET = 3:31 AT, 4:2 ET = 3:32 AT, 4:3 ET = 3:33 AT, 4:4 ET = 4:1 AT, etc., through 4:37 ET = 4:34 AT. Thus Dan 3:31-33 of the Aramaic text appears as Dan 4:1-3 in the English Bible, and the corresponding verses of ch. differ accordingly. In spite of the division of the Aramaic text, a good case can be made that 3:31-33 AT (= 4:1-3 ET) is actually the introduction to ch. .


text: This verse marks the beginning of chap. in the Aramaic text of Daniel (see the note on 4:1 ). The Greek OT (LXX) has the following addition: “In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign he said.” This date would suggest a link to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C . In general, the LXX of chapters 4-6 is very different from the MT, so much so that the following notes will call attention only to selected readings. In the LXX lacks sizable portions of material in the MT (e.g., vv. 3-6, 31-32 ), includes sizable portions of material not in the MT (e.g., v. 14 a, parts of vv. 16, 28 ), has a different order of some material (e.g., v. 8 after v. 9 ), and in some instances is vastly different from the MT (e.g., vv. 30, 34 ). Whether these differences are due to an excessively paraphrastic translation technique adopted for these chapters in the LXX, or are due to differences in the underlying Vorlage of the LXX, is a disputed matter. The latter seems more likely. There is a growing trend in modern scholarship to take the LXX of chapters 4-6 much more seriously than was the case in most earlier text-critical studies that considered this issue.


text: This explanation of the meaning of the name Belteshazzar may be more of a paronomasia than a strict etymology.


text: The function of the band of iron and bronze is not entirely clear, but it may have had to do with preventing the splitting or further deterioration of the portion of the tree that was left after being chopped down. By application it would then refer to the preservation of Nebuchadnezzar’s life during the time of his insanity.


text: The seven periods of time probably refer to seven years.


text: Much of modern scholarship views this chapter as a distortion of traditions that were originally associated with Nabonidus rather than with Nebuchadnezzar. A Qumran text, the Prayer of Nabonidus, is often cited for parallels to these events.


text: Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity has features that are associated with the mental disorder known as boanthropy, in which the person so afflicted imagines himself to be an ox or a similar animal and behaves accordingly.


text: The reference to heaven here is a circumlocution for God. There was a tendency in Jewish contexts to avoid direct reference to God. Cf. the expression “kingdom of heaven” in the NT and such statements as “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight” ( Luke 15:21 ).