Daniel, Book of

The Book of Daniel is a prophetic and apocalyptic work in two distinct parts: a narrative section (chapters 1–6) recounting Daniel's life and the miraculous interventions of God in the Babylonian and Medo-Persian courts, and a visionary section (chapters 7–12) containing four great apocalyptic visions of world empires and the end of days. In the Hebrew Bible it is placed among the Writings (Ketuvim) rather than the Prophets, though the New Testament quotes and alludes to it as authoritative prophecy. The book was written partly in Aramaic (2:4b–7:28) and partly in Hebrew. Critical debate has long focused on the date of composition — sixth-century authorship by Daniel himself versus a second-century date during the Maccabean crisis — with evangelical scholars defending the earlier date based on fulfilled predictive prophecy, linguistic evidence, and Jesus's own citation of Daniel as a genuine prophet (Matthew 24:15). The book's visions of four world empires, the Ancient of Days, the Son of Man, and the seventy weeks are foundational for New Testament eschatology.