In the first year of Belshazzar: a literal reading of this phrase may give the impression that Belshazzar was only a year old at the time. But the sense of the expression is that the vision took place during the first year of the reign of Belshazzar as king. Translators should be sure at this point that the proper name of this king is sufficiently distinguished from the one given to Daniel in 1.7 (see also 5.1 and comments).

King of Babylon: Belshazzar was ruler over all Babylonia and not just the capital city of Babylon. So it is better to translate as in Good News Translation, “king of Babylonia.”

Daniel … his … he: note that the account is transposed from the third person to the first person in Good News Translation. In the original the third person pronouns are used in this verse, but in the following verse there is a shift to a direct quote from Daniel. In some languages it may be advisable to put the entire story in the first person as in Good News Translation, but naturalness in the translation should be the determining factor. If the Good News Translation model is not followed, translators must be careful to see that the pronoun references are clear, since both Daniel and the king are mentioned earlier in this verse.

A dream and visions: the rendering of this phrase should not give the impression that two different things are being talked about here. These are simply two terms used to describe a single event. In some languages the idea of a vision has to be expressed by a phrase like “something happened inside my head” or “I saw something happening in my mind.” Compare New International Version “visions passed through his mind.” For comments on the term “vision,” see 2.19.

As he lay in his bed: or “as he lay on his bed.” Other languages may express this idea in very different ways, depending on cultural practices. Some may say “as he lay down to go to rest,” or “when he stretched himself out for sleeping,” or “when he was on his sleeping mat.”

Then: it may be better to omit this transition word altogether in some languages. But in others it will be necessary to indicate the sequence of events: first Daniel had the dream, then he wrote it down.

Wrote down the dream, and told the sum of the matter: according to some interpreters these two verbal expressions should not be taken as referring to two different actions. The second would be rather an extension of the first. The two are combined in the New International Version rendering: “wrote down the substance of his dream.” Many versions, however, take the second verb phrase as introducing the actual wording that begins after Daniel said in the following verse. New Jerusalem Bible, for example, has “he wrote the dream down, and this is how the narrative began:….” And Moffatt translates “he wrote down the dream, describing all that he had seen.” But the oral character of the message (in addition to the fact that it was written) seems to be emphasized by the writer. The verb meaning “tell” or “say” occurs both here and again at the beginning of the following verse.

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 .