Notes on the Aramaic Part of Daniel. 281 



accident at least one word in this clause, namely, the rendering of this 

 very verb ; the present text is grammatically incomplete. 



6 : 27. From the phrase Jt^'l^l ^Tl comes the old Mohammedan 



T t|- T - 



-•JJiJi ,^^1, in which the second adjective is a loanword from the 

 Aramaic. 



6 : 29. This verse formed the close of the original book of Daniel 

 (see above). The aged prophet lived to see the reign of Cyrus, living 

 in high honor at the court, but died in the first year of that monarch 

 (1 : 21, the verse which was forgotten by the author of 10 : 1 !). 



7:1. It seems to me quite certain that the word n2l'?ri5'^ has acci- 

 dentally dropped out after i^^Dtl^tt- There is no other plausible way 

 of explaining this first sentence. This phrase was repeated several 

 times by the author of chaps. 1—6, and it is now adopted (see also 

 vs. 15) by the later writer. In regard to the probabilit}^ of the omission, 

 see what was said, above, concerning the frequency with which such 

 accidents as this have taken place in the Daniel text.' 



7:1, 2. Theodotion's Aramaic text did not contain the last three 

 words of vs. 1, nor the first three words of vs. 2. The Aramaic which 

 lay before the old Greek translator [did not contain the last word of 

 vs. 1, nor the first three words of vs. 2. This makes it practically 

 certain that the phrase yh^ tTKl ^'^s originally a marginal gloss ; 

 literally, "Beginning of ivords''; i. e., "Here begins the 'personal 

 memoir ' of Daniel, told by himself in the first person." And in fact, 

 the first person is maintained (saving the single lapse in 10 : 1) from 

 this point on to the end of the book.* After the gloss had been in- 

 corporated in the text (as in that which lay before the old Greek trans- 

 lator), the addition of at least a verb (like *nS2>{) was necessary, and 

 the other words of our MT followed very naturally. The ordinary 

 translation here is impossible ; how could vhf2 be rendered " the 

 matters," or " die Sache ?" The two verses should read : " In the first 

 year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream, and the visions 

 of his head upon his bed troubled him. Then he wrote down the 

 dream: I saw in my vision by night," etc. 



7 : 9. With the phrase K''SiV pT\V, " aged man " English Bible, 

 "ancient of days"), cf John of Ephcsits, ed. Cureton, p. 450, line 2, 



' It is instructive to compare the similar omissions, through hasty 

 transcription, in the two copies of the official letter preserved in the 

 Elephantine papyri published by Sachau. 



"^ tt?K*1 ^^ ^^^ usual word for the " beginning " of a new paragraph of 

 any sort. So, for instance, constantly in the Palestinian Syriac Lectionary. 



