Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Péter-Contesse and Ellington on Daniel 7:15


 

RSV

TEV

“As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious and the visions of my head alarmed me.

The vision I saw alarmed me, and I was deeply disturbed.m

 

m Aramaic has two additional words, the meaning of which is unclear.

 

As for me, Daniel: the very same expression consisting of an emphatic first person pronoun followed by the proper name, is used in verse 28 at the end of this chapter. It serves to remind the reader of the source of the information and perhaps here marks the point in the vision when the prophet comes to himself. The pronoun plus proper noun combination may also be found frequently in the next chapters (8.1, 15, 27; 9.2; 10.2, 7; 12.5). This may be a literary device to mark important transition points in the discourse structure of the last half of Daniel.

 

Within me: literally “in the midst of the sheath.” The last word in Aramaic is normally used of the leather container into which a sword or knife is placed when not in use. Compare NAB “within its sheath of flesh.” According to some scholars it is here used as a metaphor for the human body, in which the spirit resides. If this assumption is accepted, naturalness in the translation will determine whether translators used the noun “body” or the pronoun” me” (Mft, NEB, NJV). However, some versions, following the ancient Greek, omit the two words altogether (NJB as well as TEV). It may also be possible to omit these words for translation reasons.

 

And: the conjunction here is not intended to indicate two totally different reactions to the vision. The structure is rather parallel, and the two phrases describe a single emotion. This should be made clear in the translation. (René Péter-Contesse and John Ellington, A Handbook on The Book of Daniel [New York: United Bible Societies, 1993], 193)

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