Daniel’s Structure

September 17, 2026 | Posted by Ray Fowler

To celebrate the release of my new book, Daniel: Stories and Visions, I am sharing portions from the first chapter this week.

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Daniel’s Structure

1) Stories and visions (1-6; 7-12)

The first thing that jumps out about Daniel’s structure is reflected in the title of our series. The book of Daniel presents a series of stories and visions.

There are twelve chapters in the book of Daniel. Chapters 1-6 contain six stories, while chapters 7-12 contain four visions. So, the first half of the book is mostly stories, and the second half of the book is mostly visions. But even the stories and visions are connected. The six stories are mostly stories about visions, while the four visions are visions of stories.

Here is a quick way to visualize the stories and visions structure of Daniel:

Chapters 1-6 > six stories (mostly stories about visions)
Chapters 7-12 > four visions (mostly visions of stories)

The first half of the book with all the stories is the more familiar section for people, while the second half with the visions is the less familiar.

2) Bilingual (Hebrew and Aramaic)

The second thing you should know about Daniel’s structure is that it is bilingual. Most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, but the book of Daniel is written in both Hebrew and Aramaic. Chapter one is written in Hebrew, chapters 2-7 are written in Aramaic, and then chapters 8-12 are written in Hebrew again.

Here’s a quick way to visualize the bilingual structure of Daniel:

   Chapter 1 > written in Hebrew
   Chapters 2-7 > written in Aramaic
   Chapters 8-12 > written in Hebrew

It’s interesting, because in the stories/visions structure of Daniel, chapter 7 belongs to the second half of the book, while in the bilingual structure of Daniel, it is connected to chapters 2-7 in the first half of the book. This makes it a hinge chapter, connecting the two sections together.

3) Chronology (mostly chronological)

Chapter 7 also stands out when we look at the chronological structure of the book. Although chapters 1-6 are chronological, and chapters 7-12 are chronological, the two sections overlap in the middle. Chapter 7 goes back and retraces parts of chapters 1-6 but from a different perspective.

Here’s a quick way to visualize the chronological structure of Daniel:

   Chapters 1-6 > chronological
   Chapter 7 > retraces parts of chapters 1-6
   Chapters 7-12 > chronological

Once again, chapter 7 is a “hinge” chapter linking the two sections together. We will see why chapter 7 is so important when we get there later in the series.

~ Excerpted from the book Daniel: Stories and Visions by Ray Fowler

Click on the book image to view on Amazon.