Then: naturalness in the receptor language will require such a transition word in many cases. And it will be essential to begin a new paragraph at this point, since a new topic is being dealt with. Note that Good News Translation and Revised English Bible have no transition word here.
The king of the south: in verse 8 “Egypt” is referred to by name in the Hebrew text. The ancient Greek version does so consistently throughout this passage. If south is not identified as “Egypt” in this verse, the reader will very likely understand the clear reference to Egypt in verse 8 as referring to a different king. It is therefore advisable to make this identification clear from the beginning, as in Good News Translation. The “king of the north” in the following verse (and the rest of the chapter) should also be clearly identified as “the king of Syria.” This chapter is quite difficult to understand, but the identification of the two opposing forces by more precise geographical terms should provide some help to the reader.
One of his princes: this refers to one of the generals in the army of the king of Egypt. Since the word “prince” may be understood as a son of the king, it will be advisable in most cases to translate as “one of his generals” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant and Revised English Bible) or possibly “one of his officers” (New Jerusalem Bible and New Revised Standard Version). Given the meaning in the modern military, the rendering “one of his captains” (An American Translation and Moffatt) is not recommended, since the rank is not high enough.
His dominion shall be a great dominion: this reading of Revised Standard Version reflects the traditional Hebrew text, which is recommended by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project and Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament. Good News Translation, however, follows a slightly different text that contains the comparative idea “greater than (his dominion)” in parallel with stronger than in the first part of the verse. Many other versions, including New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible/Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Revised Standard Version, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, adopt this form of the text, which seems to fit the context better.
This verse is an intentionally obscure reference to Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt (323-285 B.C.) and to one of his officers, Seleucus I Nicator (305-281 B.C.), who became the ruler of Syria and gave his name to the ensuing Seleucid dynasty.
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 .