Major prophets
The book of Daniel
Daniel, a Jewish exile in the courts of Babylon and Persia, and his visions of the kingdoms to come.
Daniel is set in the exile, from his deportation in 607 BC to the third year of Cyrus. It is written partly in Aramaic (Daniel 2:4–7:28), the language of the empire, and partly in Hebrew. Its visions of four kingdoms and the Son of Man are the background to much of the New Testament.
Written at: Babylon (Daniel 1:1–2; 2:1)
Kinds of writing
- Prophecy 50%
- Narrative 50%
Key verses
A kingdom that will never be destroyed. “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to another people; but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever.”
Daniel 2:44 (World English Bible)
One like a son of man. “I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. Dominion was given him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be destroyed.”
Daniel 7:13-14 (World English Bible)
People
DanielHananiahMishaelAzariahNebuchadnezzarBelshazzarDariusCyrus
Places
JerusalemBabylonSusaMediaPersiaGreece
On the timeline
Daniel and his friends taken to BabylonDaniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dreamShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnaceNebuchadnezzar's pride and madnessBelshazzar's feast; Babylon fallsDaniel in the lions' denDaniel's vision of four beasts and the Son of ManDaniel's prayer and the seventy weeks
The New Testament quotes or alludes to Daniel 12 times (counted in the site’s Old in the New).
Dating notes
Many modern scholars date the book to about 165 BC, in the time of Antiochus IV; the traditional view, which this timeline follows, is that Daniel wrote it in the sixth century BC. The span is an estimate; Scripture doesn’t say when the book was written.