New American Standard Bible 1995

Daniel 2:2-13

2Then the king 1gave orders to call in the 2 3magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the 4Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3The king said to them, “I 5 6had a dream and my spirit 7is anxious to 8understand the dream.”

4Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in 9 10Aramaic: “11O king, live forever! 12Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 5The king replied to the Chaldeans, “13The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be 14 15torn 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 16gifts 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 17tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 8The king replied, “I know for certain that you are 18bargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that 19the command from me is firm, 9that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only 20one 21decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt 22words before me until the 23situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, that I may 24know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” 10The Chaldeans answered 25the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter 26for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any 27 28magician, conjurer or Chaldean. 11Moreover, the thing which the king demands is 29difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it 30to the king except 31gods, whose 32dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”

12Because of this the king became 33indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13So the 34decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for 35Daniel and his friends to 36kill them.

Read all of Daniel 2

Notes

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

Notes

Commentaries on Daniel 2