New American Standard Bible 1995

Daniel 2:1-13

1Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar 1 2had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his 3sleep 4left him. 2Then the king 5gave orders to call in the 6 7magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the 8Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3The king said to them, “I 9 10had a dream and my spirit 11is anxious to 12understand the dream.”

4Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in 13 14Aramaic: “15O king, live forever! 16Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 5The king replied to the Chaldeans, “17The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be 18 19torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. 6But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me 20gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” 7They answered a second time and said, “Let the king 21tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 8The king replied, “I know for certain that you are 22bargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that 23the command from me is firm, 9that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only 24one 25decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt 26words before me until the 27situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, that I may 28know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” 10The Chaldeans answered 29the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter 30for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any 31 32magician, conjurer or Chaldean. 11Moreover, the thing which the king demands is 33difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it 34to the king except 35gods, whose 36dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”

12Because of this the king became 37indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13So the 38decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for 39Daniel and his friends to 40kill them.

Read all of Daniel 2

Notes

1. Daniel 2:1 Lit dreamed dreams ↩
2. Daniel 2:1 Gen 40:5-8; 41:1, 8; Job 33:15-17; Dan 2:3; 4:5 ↩
3. Daniel 2:1 Esth 6:1; Dan 6:18 ↩
4. Daniel 2:1 Lit was gone upon him ↩
5. Daniel 2:2 Lit said to call ↩
6. Daniel 2:2 Or soothsayer priests ↩
7. Daniel 2:2 Gen 41:8; Ex 7:11; Is 47:12, 13; Dan 1:20; 2:10, 27; 4:6; 5:7 ↩
8. Daniel 2:2 Or master astrologers, and so throughout the ch ↩
9. Daniel 2:3 Lit dreamed ↩
10. Daniel 2:3 Gen 40:8; 41:15; Dan 4:5 ↩
11. Daniel 2:3 Lit was troubled ↩
12. Daniel 2:3 Lit know ↩
13. Daniel 2:4 The text is in Aramaic from here through 7:28 ↩
14. Daniel 2:4 Ezra 4:7; Is 36:11 ↩
15. Daniel 2:4 Dan 3:9; 5:10 ↩
16. Daniel 2:4 Dan 2:7 ↩
17. Daniel 2:5 Another reading is The word has gone from me ↩
18. Daniel 2:5 Lit made into limbs ↩
19. Daniel 2:5 Ezra 6:11; Dan 2:12; 3:29 ↩
20. Daniel 2:6 Dan 2:48; 5:7, 16, 29 ↩
21. Daniel 2:7 Dan 2:4 ↩
22. Daniel 2:8 Lit buying ↩
23. Daniel 2:8 V 5, note 1 ↩
24. Daniel 2:9 Esth 4:11; Dan 3:15 ↩
25. Daniel 2:9 Or law ↩
26. Daniel 2:9 Lit word ↩
27. Daniel 2:9 Lit time ↩
28. Daniel 2:9 Is 41:23 ↩
29. Daniel 2:10 Lit before the ↩
30. Daniel 2:10 Lit of ↩
31. Daniel 2:10 Or soothsayer priest ↩
32. Daniel 2:10 Dan 2:2, 27 ↩
33. Daniel 2:11 Or rare ↩
34. Daniel 2:11 Lit before ↩
35. Daniel 2:11 Gen 41:39; Dan 5:11 ↩
36. Daniel 2:11 Ex 29:45; Is 57:15 ↩
37. Daniel 2:12 Ps 76:10; Dan 2:5; 3:13, 19 ↩
38. Daniel 2:13 Or law ↩
39. Daniel 2:13 Dan 1:19, 20 ↩
40. Daniel 2:13 Lit be killed ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Daniel 2