Daniel 3:16-28

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Daniel 3:16 tc 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 verse-dividing atnakh from “king” to “Nebuchadnezzar.”
2. Daniel 3:16 tn Aram “to return a word to you.”
3. Daniel 3:17 tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.
4. Daniel 3:17 tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (ʾitay, “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 ʾitay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 41, §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, thus their statement is rhetorically adapted to the perspective of the person they are addressing.
5. Daniel 3:19 tn Aram “the appearance of his face was altered”; cf. NLT “his face became distorted with rage”; NAB “[his] face became livid with utter rage.”
6. Daniel 3:19 tn Aram “he answered and said.”
7. Daniel 3:20 tn This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”
8. Daniel 3:21 sn There is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the specific nature of these items of clothing.
9. Daniel 3:21 tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.
10. Daniel 3:22 tn Aram “caused to go up.”
11. Daniel 3:22 tn The Aramaic verb is active.
12. Daniel 3:22 tn Aram “the flame of the fire” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NRSV “the raging flames.”
13. Daniel 3:23 tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.
14. Daniel 3:23 sn The deuterocanonical writings known as The Prayer of Azariah and The Song of the Three present at this point a confession and petition for God’s forgiveness and a celebration of God’s grace for the three Jewish youths in the fiery furnace. Though not found in the Hebrew/Aramaic text of Daniel, these compositions do appear in the ancient Greek versions.
15. Daniel 3:24 tn Aram “we threw…bound.”
16. Daniel 3:24 tn Aram “into the midst of.”
17. Daniel 3:25 sn The phrase like that of a god is in Aramaic “like that of a son of the gods.” Many patristic writers understood this phrase in a christological sense (i.e., “the Son of God”). But it should be remembered that these are words spoken by a pagan who is seeking to explain things from his own polytheistic frame of reference; for him the phrase “like a son of the gods” is equivalent to “like a divine being.” Despite the king’s description though, the fourth person probably was an angel who had come to deliver the three men, or was a theophany.
18. Daniel 3:26 tn Aram “answered and said.”
19. Daniel 3:26 tn Aram “from the midst of the fire.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.
20. Daniel 3:27 tn Aram “in their bodies.”
21. Daniel 3:27 tn Aram “the fire did not have power.”
22. Daniel 3:28 tn Aram “answered and said.”
23. Daniel 3:28 sn The king identifies the “son of the gods” (v. 25) as an angel. Comparable Hebrew expressions are used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible for the members of God’s angelic assembly (see Gen 6:2, 4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Pss 29:1; 89:6). An angel later comes to rescue Daniel from the lions (Dan 6:22).
24. Daniel 3:28 tn Aram “they changed” or “violated.”
25. Daniel 3:28 tn Aram “so that they might not.”