If integrated into the book of Daniel: 14.4.

The king revered it and went every day to worship it: The two Greek verbs for revered and worship have slightly different nuances. The first term refers to belief in a god. The latter one refers to an act of worship (perhaps including kneeling or bowing). A person could use this word of oneself only when actually engaged in such an act of worship. The former word also refers to “worship,” but a person could use it of oneself at any time; it does not describe an act but describes oneself as a worshiper of a certain god. Here, the author tells us that Cyrus revered Bel; that is, held Bel to be divine. Good News Translation comes close to this in saying “King Cyrus believed that Bel was a god” (similarly Contemporary English Version). This is only a bit off target in suggesting that there was some question as to whether or not Bel was a god. That is not the point. “King Cyrus was a worshiper of Bel” is closer to the meaning, though a translator would not want to use the same verb three times in the same verse. Perhaps “King Cyrus believed in Bel as a powerful god” would convey the correct idea. It is important, however, to see that the same expression is used for the acts of worship performed by both Cyrus and Daniel. The distinction between these two verbs will be important in verse 5 as well.

A potential problem awaits the translator in how Bel is referred to in this verse. The Greek does not refer to Bel by name, but by pronouns. Revised Standard Version translates each pronoun as it, but the Greek pronouns are masculine, referring to Bel rather than to the word idol, which is neuter. Good News Translation mentions Bel by name the first time, but later in the verse has the pronoun “it.” The gender of the pronouns here in Greek is irrelevant, and will also be irrelevant in a number of other languages where pronouns don’t include sexual information. The translation should simply take care not to suggest that the author considers Bel anything more than a mere idol, an object, not a personal being.

Daniel worshiped his own God: In order that translators may avoid the idea that Daniel worshiped his God along with Bel, we may say “Daniel worshiped only his own God” (Contemporary English Version).

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• King Cyrus believed in Bel as a powerful god, and bowed down before its idol [or, it] every day. But Daniel bowed down to [or, worshiped] only his own God.

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.