Bible Verse Lookup
Daniel
John J. Collins
The book of Daniel falls into three sections. The first (chapters 1–6 ) consists of stories in which Daniel and his three companions are the heroes. The second ( 7–12 ) is made up of revelations told by Daniel in the first person. The third ( 13–14 ) contains short stories that are not found in the Hebrew/Aramaic text of Daniel but only in the Greek and Latin versions. Jews and Protestant Christians do not accept these stories as canonical, but Protestants include them in the Apocrypha, a collection of ancient Jewish writings, which they consider edifying even if not inspired. The different kinds of material in the three divisions of Daniel reflect the gradual growth of the book. The stories in chapters 1 through 6 are the oldest part and may originally have been independent stories. We know that the revelations were composed during the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria in 168–164 BC. The “Additions” were added some time later, probably before the beginning of the Christian era.
