Add parallel Print Page Options

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

In the first[a] year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had[b] a dream filled with visions[c] while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion.[d]

Read full chapter

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.”

Daniel Has a Vision of a Goat and a Ram

[a] In the third year[b] of King Belshazzar’s reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me previously.[c]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Daniel 8:1 sn Dan 8:1 marks the switch from Aramaic (= 2:4b-7:28) back to Hebrew as the language in which the book is written in its present form. The remainder of the book from this point on (8:1-12:13) is in Hebrew. The bilingual nature of the book has been variously explained, but it most likely has to do with the book’s transmission history; see the note at 2:4.
  2. Daniel 8:1 sn The third year of King Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 551 b.c. Daniel would have been approximately 69 years old at the time of this vision.
  3. Daniel 8:1 tn Heb “in the beginning.” This refers to the vision described in chapter seven.