I heard: in many languages it will be essential to state what was heard. Good News Translation does this by adding “what he said.” Others may prefer to say “I heard what the angel said” or “I heard the answer.” If the person referred to by the pronoun I is not understood in the translator’s language, it would be possible to add the name of Daniel, as in Bible en français courant.

In some languages the words I did not understand will be better rendered “I did not know the meaning of the words,” or “I did not catch the meaning of this message,” or “the answer was like a riddle to me.”

Then: as a result of Daniel’s lack of understanding he is forced to ask another question. In some languages the relationship between the two sentences may be made clearer with a word like “Therefore” or “So” (New American Bible, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version, and New English Bible/Revised English Bible, as well as Good News Translation).

O my lord: this is the same form, ʾadonai, which is sometimes used of God and sometimes of other respected persons (see the discussion at 9.3). Here it is used as a form of address to a respected being, but not to the deity. It should therefore probably be rendered by the equivalent of “sir” in the translator’s language. The same term is also used in 10.16-19, when Daniel addressed the angel.

What shall be the issue of these things?: the question is no longer “how long?” or “when?” but “what result?” or, perhaps better, “what is to be the (final) outcome?” (New Jerusalem Bible and many other versions). Moffatt has “what is to be the last phase before the end?”

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 .