In the second year: it has been suggested by some scholars that this should read “In the twelfth year…,” because the second year seems to be inconsistent with the information given in 1.5 and 1.18, and it does not seem to allow for the three-years training period. There is, however, no manuscript evidence for this, and so translators are advised to translate the text as it stands.
Of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar: the long, complicated name of the king is mentioned twice in succession in Revised Standard Version, as in the Hebrew text, but it will very likely be more natural to change one or the other into a pronoun in other languages. Translators may say “In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar…” or “In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, he….”
Had dreams: literally “dreamed dreams”—the noun and the verb have the same root. While the Hebrew is plural in form, the meaning is probably singular. The focus of the passage is on one particular dream that caused difficulty. Hence the singular is used in Good News Translation, New American Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible. New Jerusalem Bible, on the other hand, highlights the plural by translating “had a series of dreams.” But it is probably better to use the singular form in most languages.
His spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him: the word for spirit is more naturally rendered “mind” in English (see Good News Translation, New International Version, and New English Bible, for example). And the expression his sleep left him is translated by New Jerusalem Bible “he was overcome by sleep,” following one understanding of the traditional Hebrew text. But the meaning of the text is unclear, and most English versions adopt the interpretation “sleep fled from him.” However, this is not the usual way of expressing this idea in English. Rather, people would more naturally say “he couldn’t sleep” (Good News Translation) or “he was losing sleep.”
The relationship between these two clauses is also worthy of attention. They are not two independent facts or separate results of the dream but are very closely related, with the last clause stating the result of the clause before it. For this reason translators may consider the rendering of New English Bible as a possible model to follow: “his mind was so troubled that he could not sleep.” Revised English Bible restructures further, with “… was troubled by dreams he had, so much so that he could not sleep.”
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 .