I make a decree: Revised English Bible “I have issued a decree.” See 3.29.

In all my royal dominion: some other ways of wording this are “everywhere that my power extends” or “among all the people over whom I rule.”

Men: the decree was not exclusively for males but applied to every individual in the empire. For this reason it is fitting to use more inclusive terminology here such as “everyone” (Good News Translation), “each person,” “every inhabitant of the empire,” or simply “all people.”

Tremble and fear: here the focus is more on the idea of respect and honor of God than on literal trembling and fear.

The God of Daniel: as in the case of “my God” (verse 22) and “his God” (verse 23), the possessive idea may be better rendered as “the God Daniel worships.”

The living God: see verse 20. Note that here Good News Translation uses the indefinite article rather than the definite “the” in this case. Whatever the reasons for doing this in Good News Translation, translators should avoid giving the impression that there are many living gods.

Enduring for ever: many languages will have to use a verb such as “remain” or “continue” and follow it up with something like “always” or “which will never end.”

Be destroyed: this passive may be translated “no one (or no power) will ever be able to destroy his kingdom” or “no one can spoil his rule.”

The last two lines of this verse are parallel in structure and meaning, and the parallelism may be retained in those languages where it is natural to do so. But translators should avoid giving the impression that two totally different things are being talked about. In some languages this may be done simply by not using a conjunction like “and.”

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 .