If integrated into the book of Daniel: 14.13.
This verse is a brief interruption in the narrative to explain the situation to the reader. Good News Translation sets it apart as a separate paragraph.
They were unconcerned may be translated “The priests were not worried at all” (Contemporary English Version).
Beneath the table they had made a hidden entrance: Good News Translation helpfully adds “in the temple.” The ancient reader would have known that temples had tables which served some liturgical purpose; modern readers will not necessarily know this. The function of the table here is not important. For the purposes of the story it simply hid the secret entrance made by the priests. Here Good News Translation should refer to “the table” and not “a table” since it is already mentioned in verse 11. Presumably the same table is mentioned in verse 18.
Through which they used to go in regularly and consume the provisions may be translated “They would go [or, come] into the temple through it every night to eat the food and drink the wine.”
Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.
