The prayer in verses 4-19 appears to be composed of phrases taken from older passages of Scripture (especially Deuteronomy, 1 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Jeremiah). According to some commentators this accounts for the apparently unnecessary repetitions and certain other anomalies in the prayer, such as the shifts from “my” to “our,” and from “you” and “your” to “he” and “his.”

The wording of verse 4 is almost the same as Neh 1.5, which ultimately comes from Deut 7.21, 9.

The first occurrence of LORD (outside the quotation) in this verse represents Yahweh, and the second Lord (within the quotation) reflects the Hebrew ʾadonai, as in 1.2. Throughout this chapter there is constant switching from one term to the other. The Hebrew ʾadonai is represented by Lord in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, while Yahweh is written LORD (all capital letters). In this chapter we find the Hebrew for LORD here and in verses 2, 4, 8 (where Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have “Lord”), 10, 13, 14 (twice), and 20. The Hebrew for Lord occurs in verses 3, 4, 7, 9, 15, 16, and 17, and three times in verse 19. However, there have apparently been some scribal modifications of the divine names at certain points—especially in verses 8 and 19, where Revised Standard Version does not follow the standard Hebrew text.

My God: if the first person singular possessive pronoun is understood in the translator’s language as indicating exclusive possession, then it may be better to say “our God.” Daniel does not intend to convey the idea that Yahweh is his God alone. However, the singular does emphasize a personal relation with God.

Prayed … and made confession: the two verbs used here are not intended to highlight two separate activities. The prayer is a prayer of confession. So it will be possible to render the two by an expression like “confessed in prayer,” or simply “confessed to God.” Some languages require an object for the verb “confess,” such as “sins,” but it is unnatural to speak of confessing someone else’s sins. In such a case it may be necessary to have Daniel identify himself more closely with the sins of the people by saying something like “confess our sin as a people.” The idea of confessing may have to be translated “acknowledge our wrongdoing” or “admit that we have sinned.”

Great and terrible: the word terrible has negative connotations in English and does not accurately reflect the idea of immense respect (rather than fear) that is in the original. It has been translated “awesome” (New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, New American Bible and New Revised Standard Version), “revered” (An American Translation), “to be feared” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “we honor you” (Good News Translation).

Keepest covenant: the covenant refers to a kind of relationship or agreement between two parties. In this context covenant calls to mind the agreement between God and his people. This phrase indicates that God has kept his word and has fulfilled what was expected of him in the relationship. Some languages may translate in this context “you keep your promises,” or “you do what you agree to do,” or “you fulfill your responsibilities.”

Steadfast love: the corresponding term (chesed) is one of the more difficult single Hebrew words to translate. It carries the idea of sustained loyalty and love at the same time. Some suggested translations are “constant love” (Good News Translation), “faithful love” (New Jerusalem Bible), “unchanging love,” or “trustworthy love.” This term is used twenty-six times in Psalm 136 (once in each verse) and in Exo 20.6.

Many scholars take the combined terms covenant and steadfast love as a figure of speech in which two words joined by a conjunction are used to describe a single fact. For this reason New International Version translates “keeps his covenant of love,” and Anchor Bible has “loyally keep your covenant.” Moffatt speaks of keeping the “compact of kindness.”

Him … his: the use of third person pronouns when addressing the LORD directly will be very unnatural in many languages. As in Good News Translation (as well as Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Revised Standard Version, and New Jerusalem Bible), they may have to be changed to the second person singular to comply with the style of the receptor language.

Who love … and keep … commandments: the structure of the Hebrew at the end of this verse is literally “[A] keeping covenant and [B] steadfast love towards [B] those who love him and [A] who keep his commandments.” Some interpreters see in this what is called a “chiastic” structure: that is, a structure in which the four parts are crossed, so that the first and last parts go together (A and A) and the middle two parts (B and B) are also matched. If this is true, the real meaning is “keeping covenant with those who keep his commandments” (the two words translated “keep” have the same root in Hebrew) and “showing steadfast love toward those who love him” (the two words translated “love” are not the same in Hebrew). But it is also possible to take the whole section as a general affirmation without separating out and restructuring the various parts.

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 .