Daniel 7:1-2 New English Translation

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

7 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] ²Daniel explained:^[e] “I was watching in my vision during the night as^[f] the four winds of the sky^[g] were stirring up the great sea.^[h]

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Footnotes

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.
Daniel 7:1 tn Aram “saw.”
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.
Daniel 7:1 tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV’s “the substance of his dream.”
Daniel 7:2 tn Aram “answered and said.”
Daniel 7:2 tn Aram “and behold.”
Daniel 7:2 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
Daniel 7:2 sn The referent of the great sea is unclear. The common view that the expression refers to the Mediterranean Sea is conjectural.

New English Translation (NET)