Went to his palace: that is, “returned” or “went back to his palace,” since this was certainly not the first time that he had been there.

Spent the night fasting: or “had nothing to eat all night,” or “he refused to eat anything throughout the night.” The Aramaic actually has an adverb that depends on the verb “spend the night.”

No diversions were brought to him: in addition to the difficulty of the passive form, this clause also contains a word that has long troubled commentators. The word here rendered as diversions is found nowhere else in Aramaic literature known to the present. It has been understood to refer to “concubines” (New Jerusalem Bible), women (New English Bible and Revised English Bible), “dancing girls” (Moffatt), “entertainers” (New American Bible), and “musical instruments” (New Jerusalem Bible note). New Revised Standard Version takes this clause as an amplification of what comes before it and translates “no food was brought to him.” It is, however, probably best to use a more general word for “diversion” or “entertainment.”

Sleep fled from him: there are many ways of saying that a person is unable to go to sleep: “He spent a white night,” “his eyes would not stay closed,” or “sleep would not come to 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 .