Old Testament
Daniel
12 chapters · World English Bible
Context
Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.
AI explanation
About Daniel as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader
This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.
What this book is about
A young man is carried off to a foreign court, and the question the book asks is whether he will stay faithful. The first half of Daniel (chapters 1 to 6) tells of Daniel and his friends as exiles serving at foreign courts. In the blazing furnace they tell the king, “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us”, and add, “But if not,” they still will not bow. At the lions’ den the king himself says to Daniel, “Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.” In each story they stay faithful under pressure, and God proves to be above every king.
The second half (7 to 12) records visions of empires rising and falling, of one like a son of man receiving an everlasting kingdom, and of the dead being raised.
Background
The book is set in the sixth century before Christ, and the traditional view is that Daniel wrote it then. Many scholars think it reached its final form in the second century, during the persecution under Antiochus IV. Part of it is written in Aramaic. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include additional passages.
How Christians read it
Jesus’ title for himself, the Son of Man, draws on chapter 7. Christians agree that the visions declare God’s rule over history. They differ widely on the details: which empires are meant, how to count the seventy weeks of chapter 9, and how much refers to the time of Antiochus, to the first coming of Christ or to the end.
About this explanation
Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 20 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.