The Old Testament here does what I Nephi does and makes little distinction between dream and vision - "Daniel had a dream and visions of his head" (v.1); "I saw my vision by night" (v. 2); "I saw in the night vision" (v. 13); "the visions of my head troubled me" (v. 15); Compare Lehi: "Behold, I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision" (I Nephi 8:2).
The dreams and visions of Lehi and Nephi have much more in common in content, style and feel with those of Daniel than with any of the other dreams we have encountered from earlier in the Old Testament. And after Lehi and Nephi, the Book of Mormon leaves the Daniel-like dreamscape behind. Daniel, like Nephi, takes care to record the vision/dream himself - "and then he wrote the dream" (v. 1). Nephi, Lehi, and Daniel all record their emotional reactions: "I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me" (v. 15); "my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me; but I kept the matter in my heart" (v. 28); "because of the things which he saw and heard he did quake exceedingly" (I Nephi 1:6); "his soul did rejoice and his whole heart was filled, because of the things which he had seen, yea, which the Lord had shown unto him" (I Nephi 1:15); "because of the things which I have seen, I have reason to rejoice...but behold...I fear exceedingly..." (I Nephi 8:3-4); "he said unto us, because of these things which he saw, he exceedingly feared" (I Nephi 8:36); "I Nephi was grieved...because of the things which I had seen....and...I was overcome because of my afflictions (I Nephi 15:4-5). Finally, the personage in Nephi's vision has a parallel with the "one of them that stood by" (v. 16) in Daniel's dream. Both of them receive questions and give interpretations. The "interpretation of things" (v. 16) or "the interpretation thereof" (I Nephi 11:11) are concerns that Nephi and Daniel both voice during the course of their visions.
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