If integrated into the book of Daniel: 3.29

For we have sinfully and lawlessly departed from thee …: The use of the word “sin” in the last line of verse 5 and the first line of this verse provides an opportunity for a coherent progression of thought that neither Good News Translation nor Revised Standard Version takes advantage of. New Jerusalem Bible does it well: “… you have treated us … as our sins deserve. Yes, we have sinned….” Following through with the model suggested above, this verse could read:

• … It was proper and fair to punish us for our sins. We did sin. We broke your law in turning our backs on you. We are guilty of every sin.

In Greek both sinfully and lawlessly are verbs (“sin” and “break the law”); Revised Standard Version has rendered them as adverbs. This is legitimate, but perhaps it is more effective to render them as verbs as in the model above.

The last clause, and have not obeyed thy commandments, is best connected with the thought of verse 7. One edition of the Greek puts the verse break before this clause. Good News Translation and New American Bible translate and number it in this way and translators are urged to follow their example. See the comments on the next verse.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.