The Aramaic chattaah appears in Daniel 4:27 in Nebuchadnezzar's dream interpretation: Daniel urges the king to 'break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed.' The Aramaic form signals we are in a diplomatic/international context β Nebuchadnezzar was addressed in his own world's language, yet the call to repentance from sin is unchanged.
Daniel's counsel to Nebuchadnezzar is striking: chattaah (sin) can be broken off (peraq) by turning to righteousness and mercy. This is not salvation by works β Daniel is not promising that good deeds erase guilt before God β but a pragmatic prophetic appeal: 'Your kingdom may be extended if you govern justly.' The language echoes throughout the prophets: God relents from judgment when people turn from injustice (Jonah 3:10). Nebuchadnezzar's subsequent pride brought the very judgment Daniel warned against (Daniel 4:29-33). The king who could have broken off his chattaah was instead broken by God.