Translation commentary on Bel and the Dragon 1:21

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 14.21.

The king was enraged, and he seized the priests …: There is a problem with Good News Translation‘s rendering here, which reads “he became so angry that he had the priests … arrested and brought to him.” This suggests that the ensuing action, having the people brought to him, is what his anger results in. Actually, he is so angry that he has them killed. There are other ways of connecting the king’s anger with his action:
New Jerusalem Bible: “angrily ordered the priests to be arrested….”
New English Bible: “In a rage he put the priests under arrest….”
Moore: “Infuriated, the king arrested the priests….”
New American Bible: “The angry king arrested the priests….”
Contemporary English Version: “He was furious and told his guards to arrest the priests….”

Seized the priests and their wives and children: The king does not seize all these people himself, of course; he has it done by others. “Arrest” is a good word to use for this action, but “had them arrested” (so Good News Translation) avoids the potential misunderstanding in “arrested them.” Good News Translation condenses their wives and children into “their families.” Good News Translation also inserts “and brought to him.” Obviously they have to get from the place of their arrest to the temple, where the king is standing, and this insertion helps the reader.

They showed him the secret doors: Previously the secret doors had been referred to as “a hidden entrance” (verse 13), without our being told that the entrance consisted of more than one door. For this reason Contemporary English Version has simply “the secret door.” Whether the plural doors or the singular “door” is used (see the comments on verse 11), it must be made clear to the reader that we are talking about one entrance here.

Through which they were accustomed to enter: Were accustomed to enter renders one word in Greek. It is the verb “enter” in the imperfect tense, meaning that this entering was a customary action. The translation “used to go in [or, enter/come]” found in New English Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible seems to suggest that their customary action had ended sometime in a more distant past than just a few hours ago. Good News Translation expresses the idea better by using information from verse 15, and says “through which they had come in each night.” Moore has “through which they would enter” and Contemporary English Version “that they used when they sneaked into the temple.”

Devour what was on the table: Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version specify that “food” was on the table, although it is quite clear that anything they ate would be food.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• The king was very angry [or, furious] and ordered his guards to arrest the priests, along with their wives and children, and bring them to him. Then the priests showed him the secret door [or, entrance] that they would use each night to sneak into the temple and eat the food that was on the table.

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.