Daniel 7:4-6

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Daniel 7:4 tn Aram “heart of a man.”
2. 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.
3. Daniel 7:5 tn Aram “and behold.”
4. 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.
5. Daniel 7:5 tc The LXX lacks the phrase “between its teeth.”
6. Daniel 7:5 tn Aram “and thus they were saying to it.”
7. Daniel 7:6 tn Aram “this,” as also in v. 7.
8. Daniel 7:6 tn Aram “and behold, another one.”
9. Daniel 7:6 tn Or “sides.”
10. 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).