Presidents: it will be advisable in many languages to begin a new sentence here in order to simplify the structure and make the meaning clearer. The one hundred and twenty satraps, or “governors” (Good News Translation), were in turn managed or presided over by three higher officers, one of whom was Daniel. The equivalent for the word presidents may not be suitable in many languages, because it would be unthinkable that there could be more than one president in the country. This term has been translated “chief ministers” by Revised English Bible. These three, in turn, were answerable to the king. Another way of wording this is “He also appointed three higher officials to watch over the work of these governors … and Daniel was one of these three,” placing the statement about Daniel at the very end of the verse.

Suffer no loss: the idea here is that the three overseers would guarantee the supervision of the king’s affairs so that he would not have to worry. In some languages it may be possible to say something similar to the New Jerusalem Bible rendering, “in order that the king not be troubled.” Revised English Bible, however, translates “so that the king’s interests might not suffer.”

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 .