Therefore: literally “Because of all that.” The majority of the English versions simply translate “So…” or “Therefore….” But Anchor Bible begins this verse with “Accordingly….” In translation it will be important to use whatever transition word naturally fits this context, showing a logical relationship of cause and effect.

Went in … went: the use of these two verbs that are very similar in meaning may be considered redundant, and the two can easily be reduced to one without changing the meaning of the text. In fact some ancient Greek manuscripts omit “went in,” and this is followed by New English Bible and certain other modern versions.

Whom the king had appointed …: some translations (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, for example) do not give this information here in this verse, since it is given in verses 12-14 above. But because this is the beginning of a new section, and also because of the distance from the previous section, it is probably not harmful to state it once again in this context.

Do not destroy …: compare verse 12, where the original command to destroy the wise men of Babylon was given.

The entire direct quotation in this verse may be better rendered indirectly in some languages. The translation will then read something like “He (Daniel) asked Arioch not to kill the wise men…, but to take him to the king so that he could give the interpretation of the dream.”

Bring me in before the king: if this is a part of a direct quotation, there will be various ways of making it sound natural, depending on the usage of the translator’s language. Some may say, for example, “take me into the presence of the king,” or “allow me to speak to the king,” or “permit me to see the king.”

I will show the king the interpretation: instead of the verb show it will be much better in most languages to find a verb that is more appropriate to the context, such as “tell,” “explain,” “reveal” or “interpret.” And instead of the king it may be better in some cases to use the object pronoun “him.”

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René & Ellington, John. A Handbook on Daniel. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .