4So the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for complaint against Daniel in connection with the kingdom. But they could find no grounds for complaint or any corruption, because he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption could be found in him.
The term that is transliterated as “Daniel” in English means “judge of God (i.e., one who delivers judgment in the name of God,” “my judge is God.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
In American Sign Language it is translated with the sign for the letter D and for “lion,” referring to the story in Daniel 6. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Daniel” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a sign that refers to Daniel being cast into the lions’ den. (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
The following is a stained glass window depicting Daniel by Endre Odon Hevezi and Gyula Bajo from 1965 for the Debre Libanos Monastery, Oromia, Ethiopia:
Photo by Timothy A. Gonsalves, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Daniel 6:4:
Kupsabiny: “The other rulers and leaders blackened their stomachs (developed envy) against Daniel. They looked for matter they could falsely accuse him of in the area of leadership, but they did not find anything they could accuse Daniel of. There was no fault at all, because he was a trustworthy man and not corrupt.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Since it was like this, the other two ministers and district officers in governmental work started looking for Daniel’s faults. But they were not even able to find any corruption in his work, for he was a trustworthy person, and not a man who tends to act carelessly.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Because of that, his two co-administrators and the governors looked for fault in the leadership of Daniel so they could-accuse him. But they could not see any fault because Daniel was very trustworthy and his leadership (was) good.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then, the other administrators and the governors became jealous. So they began to try to find something that they could criticize about the way I was working for the king. But I always did my work faithfully and honestly, and was never lazy. So they could not find anything to criticize.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Sought to find a ground for complaint: the translation should make clear the fact that there was some kind of inquiry or accusation against Daniel. The expression ground for complaint occurs twice in this verse, but this may be awkward in translation. One translation puts it this way: “began to look round for some pretext to attack Daniel’s administration” (New English Bible).
No error or fault was found in him: the Aramaic uses the verb “to find” three times in this verse, but it is unnecessary to reflect this in the translation. The parallel construction no error or fault may need to be reduced to a single statement in some languages. Also, the passive construction will have to be made active in many cases: “no one could find any error or fault in him” or “they could discover neither negligence nor malpractice” (Revised English Bible). The point of this statement does not seem to be that Daniel was absolutely perfect or sinless, but that he was law-abiding and trustworthy.
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 .
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