Nebuchadnezzar said …: the text says literally “Nebuchadnezzar answered and said…” (see discussion at 2.5). But translators may want to avoid the repetition of the proper name by using the pronoun “he” (as in Good News Translation) or the noun “the king” (as in Bible en français courant). The verb that follows may be rendered “asked” or “interrogated them,” since the following words are in the form of a question. However, it should be noted that there is no indication in the text that the king gave them a chance to answer this question.

Is it true…?: the corresponding Aramaic word is found nowhere else in the Old Testament. It is derived from a root that has the idea of solidness or firmness, and it is so rendered in many ancient versions. This meaning has further been confirmed by the discovery of an Aramaic inscription where it is also used. This has led some scholars to think that the best translation of the word may be “Is it deliberate?” Nouvelle version Segond révisée, and similarly Lacocque). But most versions and commentators take it to mean “Is it a fact?” or Is it true? (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation).

My gods: see verse 12. Here the text does not have the double tradition mentioned in the comment on verse 12. This can, in fact, support the choice of the plural in the previous case and in verse 18. However, it is also possible that, while formally a plural, the word may be understood as having a singular meaning.

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 .