O king: or “Your Majesty.” See verses 4, 29, and 31.

The king of kings: this is a Semitic equivalent of the superlative in English. (Compare, for example, “Song of Songs,” meaning “The most beautiful of all songs,” or “the Holy of Holies” for “the Holiest Place of All.”) An equivalent expression may be “the supreme chief” or “the greatest of all kings” (Bible en français courant as well as Good News Translation).

The God of heaven: see verse 18.

Has given the kingdom: the kingship of Nebuchadnezzar comes from God and not from the divine nature that he claims (see chapter 3). Another way of saying this is “God … has made you king” or “… has permitted you to rule.” It will be noted that Good News Translation uses the word “emperor” here and “empire” in verses 39-43. But it then reverts to “kingdom” in verse 44. Translators should be aware that the same term is used in all these cases in Aramaic.

The power, and the might: these two terms mean practically the same thing, and it is legitimate, when all else fails, to translate them as a single word (as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has done). If we attempt to reflect the slight difference between them, the first seems to evoke more the idea of physical strength while the second has to do more with moral strength.

Glory: this is the same word that is translated “honor” in verse 6.

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 .