Editing Book of Daniel (section)

=== Dating ===

The prophecies of Daniel are accurate down to the career of [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]], king of Syria and oppressor of the Jews, but not in its prediction of his death: the author seems to know about Antiochus' two campaigns in Egypt (169 and 167 BC), the desecration of the Temple (the "abomination of desolation"), and the fortification of the Akra (a fortress built inside Jerusalem), but he seems to know nothing about the reconstruction of the Temple or about the actual circumstances of Antiochus' death in late 164 BC. Chapters 10–12 must have been written between 167 and 164 BC. There is no evidence of a significant time lapse between those chapters and chapters 8 and 9, and chapter 7 may have been written just a few months earlier again.{{sfn|Collins|1984|p=101}}

Some evidence of the book's date can be found in the fact that Daniel is not present in the Hebrew Bible's [[Nevi'im]] (wherein it might arguably be expected to fit), which was closed {{circa|200&nbsp;BC}}.{{sfn|Kent|1906|p=214}} Rather, Daniel forms a part of the [[Ketuvim]] ('Writings') also formed {{circa|200&nbsp;BC}}. Additionally, the [[Wisdom of Sirach]], a work dating from {{circa|180&nbsp;BC}}, draws on almost every book of the Hebrew Bible except Daniel, leading scholars to suppose that its author was unaware of it, Daniel is, however, quoted in a section of the [[Sibylline Oracles]] commonly dated to the middle of the 2nd century BC, and was popular at Qumran at much the same time, suggesting that it was known from the middle of that century.{{sfn|Hammer|1976|pp=1–2}}