Then: once again, this translates the multipurpose Hebrew conjunction that may be best left untranslated in many languages.

The king of the south: the king of Egypt, as confirmed by verse 8. Similarly, the king of the north in this verse should again be rendered “the king of Syria.”

Moved with anger: the position of this element in the sentence will be determined by what is most natural in the translator’s language. But it is clearly in a prominent position in the Hebrew. Note that New Revised Standard Version, like Good News Translation, has shifted it to the beginning of the sentence.

Come out and fight: or “go forth to battle.” The use of two verbs in this manner is a frequent Hebrew way of describing the initiation of an action followed by the essential meaning. Compare comments on the construction “answered and said” in 2.5. In those languages where such a formula is unnatural, it will be better to use a single verbal expression such as “launch an offensive” (Bible en français courant), or an expression indicating purpose, “march out to do battle” (New English Bible).

He shall raise a great multitude: the third person pronoun here may refer to the king of the south (Egypt) or to the king of the north (Syria). But it is much more likely that it refers to the Syrian ruler. The great multitude is, as in verse 10, a very large army.

But it shall be given into his hand: the subject pronoun, it, refers back to the great multitude or army that the Syrian king mustered. And as often in Scripture, the word hand represents “power.” The third person singular possessive pronoun, his, in this case refers to the king of the south (Egypt). The restructuring of Good News Translation clarifies all these pronouns and makes the meaning comprehensible. It should serve as a good model for other languages.

This verse is thought to refer to the battle at Raphia, where Ptolemy IV (king of the South) fought Antiochus III in 217 B.C. Antiochus was defeated and his army suffered considerable loss as Judea was rejoined to Egypt.

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 .