Bible & Christianity › Exile & the Second Temple › Babylonian exile
Daniel in Babylon
set in the 6th century BC; book dated c. 165 BC by most scholars· Person· People
Faith & scriptureHeld by believers on faith and scripture; history can neither confirm nor rule it out.
Daniel is a young Jewish exile in Babylon whose book tells of courtly faithfulness and visions of empires rising and falling.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
Daniel 1–6 tells how Daniel and three friends refuse the king's food, interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, and survive persecution: the friends in a fiery furnace, Daniel in a lions' den. At Belshazzar's feast a hand writes on the wall that Babylon's days are numbered. Chapters 7–12 give visions of four beasts (empires) and 'one like a son of man' receiving an everlasting kingdom (7:13). Catholic and Orthodox Bibles add Susanna and Bel and the Dragon.
Why it matters
Jesus' most common name for himself, 'Son of Man', echoes Daniel 7, and Daniel's visions shaped Revelation and later end-times expectation.
Life, legacy and sources
Most scholars date the book to about 165 BC: its 'predictions' track Greek-era wars precisely through Antiochus IV's persecution, then miss his death. Belshazzar was real, but a crown prince. Traditional readers keep a 6th-century date.
Questions and debates
Whether Daniel was a real person is unknown; Ezekiel 14:14 names a righteous 'Daniel', possibly the legendary Danel known from Ugarit.
Connections (3)
▸Babylonian exile is the setting of Daniel in BabylonFaith & scripture
The connection
The book is set entirely in exile: Daniel is taken to Babylon as a youth in about 605 BC, trained for royal service under the name Belteshazzar, and serves into Persian times. His stories show how to stay faithful to God, in diet and prayer, while serving foreign kings.
When and where
Babylon, from Nebuchadnezzar (605–562 BC) to Cyrus (539 BC), as the book tells it.
How do we know?
The setting uses real names and court details, but scholars note slips (Belshazzar as king, an unknown 'Darius the Mede') suggesting a writer centuries later.
Questions and debates
Whether the court tales of Daniel 1–6 circulated earlier, in the Persian era, before the book was finished around 165 BC, is debated.
▸Maccabean revolt and Hanukkah is the setting most scholars see in Daniel in BabylonMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Daniel 7–12 describes visions of a 'little horn' king who stops the daily sacrifice and sets up 'the abomination that makes desolate' (Daniel 11:31). Most scholars think the book was finished during Antiochus IV's persecution, about 165 BC, to assure the faithful that God would soon intervene.
When and where
Judea, c. 167–164 BC; the book itself is set in 6th-century BC Babylon.
How do we know?
Daniel 11 tracks Ptolemaic and Seleucid history in precise detail up to about 165 BC, but its forecast of Antiochus' death (11:40–45) does not match what happened.
Questions and debates
Traditional Jews and many Christians hold that Daniel wrote it in the 6th century BC as prophecy; some read the 'little horn' as a future figure.
▸Daniel in Babylon shares visions and imagery with Book of RevelationMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Revelation draws heavily on Daniel 7. Daniel's four beasts from the sea become Revelation 13's single beast, part leopard, bear and lion, with ten horns. 'One like a son of man' coming with the clouds (Daniel 7:13) becomes the risen Christ (Revelation 1:7, 13). Both use coded time spans, 'a time, times and half a time', and sealed books.
When and where
Daniel was written around 165 BC under the Syrian king Antiochus IV (most scholars' view); Revelation around AD 95 on Patmos.
How do we know?
Textual: Revelation alludes to Daniel throughout; with Ezekiel and Isaiah, Daniel is among its most-used sources, though it never quotes directly.
Questions and debates
Whether both books are coded commentary on their own times (most scholars) or predictions of future events (many evangelicals) is the core interpretive divide.