Daniel

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: Ruth Anna 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.


“Daniel” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Following is a hand colored stencil print on washi of Daniel by Sadao Watanabe (1965):

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

The following is a stained glass window depicting Daniel by Endre Odon Hevezi and Gyula Bajo from 1965 for the Debre Libanos Monastery, Oromia, Ethiopia:

Photo by Timothy A. Gonsalves, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license

Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )

See also Daniel.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Daniel in the Lions’ Den and Daniel .

Translation commentary on Bel and the Dragon 1:22

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 14.22.

Therefore the king put them to death: For Therefore the Greek has simply “And.” Good News Translation and some other translations begin the verse with “So.” A connector that marks the culmination of the story is appropriate here. The Greek fails to give some important information here: who is them? Good News Translation mercifully has only the priests put to death (verse 28 mentions the killing of the priests), but that is probably wishful thinking. The writer probably intends us to understand that their wives and children were killed also (compare Dan 6.24). So Contemporary English Version has “The king told his guards to kill the priests and their families.”

Gave Bel over to Daniel: “Gave Bel to Daniel” in Good News Translation suggests that the image of Bel was small enough to handle easily, which probably was not the case. What the king did was to give Daniel permission to do whatever he wanted to do with the idol of Bel, and presumably its temple as well. Contemporary English Version makes this point clear with “Then he gave the temple and the idol of Bel to Daniel.”

Who destroyed it and its temple: Just one verb is used for the destruction of both the idol and the temple. Good News Translation uses “tore down” with the temple as being appropriate for destroying a building. We are probably to think that Daniel had both destroyed, rather than doing it by himself (so Contemporary English Version).

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.