translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DAN

label: NET translator note

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


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


text: Aram “Nebuchadnezzar the king.” The proper name and title have been replaced by the relative pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.


label: NET textual note

text: The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.”


text: According to BDB 1097 s.v. כָּרוֹז the Aramaic word used here is a Greek loanword, but other scholars have argued instead for a Persian derivation ( HALOT 1902 s.v. * כָּרוֹז ).


text: Aram “in strength.”


text: Aram “they are saying.”


text: The imperfect Aramaic verbs have here an injunctive nuance.


text: Aram “in that hour.”


text: Aram “all the peoples.”


text: Though not in the Aramaic text of BHS , this word appears in many medieval Hebrew MSS , some LXX MSS , and Vulgate. Cf. vv. 5, 10, 15 .


text: This expression is absent in Theodotion.


text: Aram “men.”


text: Aram “ate the pieces of.” This is a rather vivid idiom for slander.


text: Aram “answered and said,” a common Aramaic idiom that occurs repeatedly in this chapter.


text: Aram “in anger and wrath”; NASB “in rage and anger.” The expression is a hendiadys.


text: The Aramaic infinitive is active.


text: Aram “these men.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid undue repetition.


text: Aram “hand.” So also in v. 17 .


text: In the MT this word is understood to begin the following address (“answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar’”). However, it seems unlikely that Nebuchadnezzar’s subordinates would address the king in such a familiar way, particularly in light of the danger that they now found themselves in. The present translation implies moving the atnach from “king” to “Nebuchadnezzar.”


text: Aram “to return a word to you.”


text: The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17 .


text: The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’ itay , “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל ( yakhil , “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen , 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’ itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar , 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15 , which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.


text: Aram “the appearance of his face was altered”; cf. NLT “his face became distorted with rage”; NAB “[his] face became livid with utter rage.”


text: Aram “he answered and said.”


text: This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”


text: Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.


text: Aram “caused to go up.”


text: The Aramaic verb is active.


text: Aram “the flame of the fire” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NRSV “the raging flames.”


text: Aram “we threw…bound.”


text: Aram “into the midst of.”


text: Aram “answered and said.”


text: Aram “from the midst of the fire.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.


text: Aram “in their bodies.”


text: Aram “the fire did not have power.”


text: Aram “they changed” or “violated.”


text: Aram “so that they might not.”


text: Aram “from me is placed an edict.”


text: Aram “speaks negligence.”


text: Aram “and the king.” The proper name has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.