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RSV |
TEV |
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“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)