Although two important ancient Greek versions of the Old Testament begin this chapter with the date “in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar…” (compare Jer 52.29), no major English version has adopted this reading, and it is not recommended to translators.
King Nebuchadnezzar: the Aramaic text has the proper name first and then the title (as in King James Version), but it may be more natural to reverse this order in other languages. Translators should follow whichever order is most natural; they should ask themselves whether they are more likely to say “President X” or “X, the president” in ordinary speech.
Made … set it up: while these are good literal translations of the words found in the original, this does not mean that the king himself actually did the work of making the statue and setting it up. Therefore it may be better in many languages to use a causative form of the verbs, “caused to be made” and “caused to set up.” Or some other means of expressing these ideas may be more natural, such as “ordered that (a statue) be made” and “commanded that it be set up….” Good News Translation uses the forms “had … made” and “had … set up.”
Image of gold: the word gold is found also in 2.32 as well as in a dozen other places in Daniel. According to some commentators, the proportions of the image or statue suggest that it was probably a sort of symbolic column rather than an exact representation of a human or divine figure, and that perhaps some carving on the column pictured the features of person, whether human or divine. But others feel that it must have had the shape of human features. The church fathers thought it may have been an image of a king who was considered a god, and several modern commentators think it may have been a representation of a Babylonian god; but the information given in verses 12, 14, and 18 does not really make it possible to decide one way or another. If the language has a word for symbolic representation rather than exact likeness, then this word should probably be used in translation rather than the other.
Whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits: the American edition of Good News Translation translates these dimensions as “ninety feet high and nine feet wide,” but the British edition uses the metric system and attempts to be precise, with “twenty-seven meters high and three meters wide.” Bible en français courant and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, on the other hand, have rounded the numbers to “thirty meters high and three meters wide.” If the metric system is used, this seems to be more in keeping with the round numbers of the original. In other languages it will probably be best to use whatever system of measurement is used in speaking of the dimensions of a tree, a house, or some other large structure. For instance, width may be stated in paces and height may possibly be stated in terms of the height of a person. For example, translators may say “taller than fifteen people and about three paces wide.” But in many cultures the metric system has become a part of the language and can be used here.
On the plain of Dura: the location of this plain is uncertain. The word plain in itself presents a translation problem in certain languages. It is a rather large and relatively flat area sometimes referred to as a plateau in English. It is sometimes used in contrast with hilly country. One commentary takes it to mean “valley.” In some languages it may also be necessary to make a decision about the words of Dura. The entire expression may have to be translated “the plain called Dura” or possibly “the plain near a town called Dura.” Although we cannot be certain, the former is more likely to be the case.
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 .