After you: in some languages it may be necessary to say “After you are gone” or “When you are no longer ruling.”

Inferior to you: that is, inferior to your kingdom. Another way of saying this is “another ruler who is not as great (or strong) as you” or “another kingdom that is more limited (or less powerful) than yours.”

Another kingdom … and yet a third kingdom: the style used in this verse leaves out certain elements and may have to be filled in a bit. While the text does not actually say so, it is clear that the second kingdom is symbolized by the silver part of the statue, which is inferior to the gold part. And the kingdom of bronze is unquestionably inferior to the second kingdom, as bronze is inferior to silver. So this may have to be stated in some cases.

All the earth: is probably an exaggeration, but in the context of this type of vision, it may be translated literally in many languages. It may represent all the people of the earth that were known to the writer of this book.

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 .