Ate no delicacies: the word here rendered delicacies is literally “bread of delightfulness.” It has been variously translated “agreeable food” (New Jerusalem Bible); “tasty food” (New Jerusalem Bible); “choice food” (New International Version and Revised English Bible); “savory food” (New American Bible); “appetizing food” (An American Translation); “rich food” (Good News Translation and New Revised Standard Version). Most languages will have a way of describing pleasant food in contrast with ordinary food taken merely to stay alive. Perhaps there is even a deliberate contrast here with “bread of affliction” (Deut 16.3).

No meat or wine entered my mouth: a literal rendering may be unnatural in some languages, since it may give the impression that the meat and wine could act of their own will. Some languages will require two separate verbs as in Good News Translation, but some other models are “never tasted flesh or wine” (Moffatt) and “took no meat or wine” (New American Bible). This mourning was not a matter of fasting as such but of the refusal of certain types of food and drink that were normally much sought after and considered a luxury.

Nor did I anoint myself at all: the idea of anointing in this context is that of using perfumed oil on the hair and face. It has nothing to do with anointing in the religious sense of consecration to God, but rather relates to ordinary care for skin and hair. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates “did not perfume myself”; New International Version says “I used no lotions at all.” Note that Good News Translation renders the same expression “did not … comb my hair.” Compare the rendering of the same kind of expression in the New Testament in Matt 6.17, for example.

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 .