Therefore: this Revised Standard Version rendering represents the common conjunction that has a wide variety of meanings and is frequently left untranslated in many languages. In this context it is certainly not as strong as the Revised Standard Version rendering may suggest.

I made a decree: literally “from me is issued a decree….” This is the same expression as in 3.29. But the passive formulation is not recommended in most languages.

Wise men: see 2.12.

That they might make known: while the plural pronoun they is used here, this should not be understood to mean that the king expected a separate explanation from each of the wise men. So in languages where the more literal rendering is likely to be misunderstood, it may be better to translate “so that someone (or one of them) might tell me….”

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 .