20When he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out anxiously to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?”
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “serve,” “minister,” “walk with,” or “service” is translated in Igede as myị ẹrụ or “agree with message (of the one you’re serving).” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Hebrew that is rendered in English as “the living God” is translated into Bukusu as Wele omenyile mindali or “God who is there.” In the Bukusu culture it is impossible to talk about a “living God.” That would make a mockery of God. The expression “the God who is there” is a confession of the fact that he is active and present.
The term that is transliterated as “Daniel” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the sign for the letter D and for “lion,” referring to the story in Daniel 6. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Daniel” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “prayer” that illustrates Daniel’s close relationship with God.
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
The name Daniel occurs three different times in the first half of this verse. Such repetition may be awkward in many languages and can be reduced as in Good News Translation.
Cried out … and said: the use of both of these verbs may be redundant in certain languages, and the verbs can be reduced so that the first one is used exclusively: “shouted” or “called out.”
In a tone of anguish: some ancient translations have “in a loud voice.” But most follow the idea of anguish or sorrow: “anxiously” (New English Bible/Revised English Bible and New Revised Standard Version as well as Good News Translation), “in a sorrowful voice” (An American Translation), “in a mournful voice” (New Jerusalem Bible). One Aramaic lexicon says that the word means “sad.” It is clear in any case that the king was very distressed over the situation of Daniel.
The living God: this expression is used frequently in the New Testament (Matt 26.63; John 6.69; Heb 9.14, for example) and elsewhere in the Old Testament (Deut 5.26; Josh 3.10; 1 Sam 17.26). But in some languages this poses serious problems, since the descriptive term living is considered unnecessarily redundant.
Serve continually …: see verse 16, where the same terms are used, except for from the lions.
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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