New American Standard Bible 2020

Daniel 2:1-12

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 6soothsayer priests, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the 7Chaldeans, to 8tell 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, “The command 17from 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 turned into 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 trying to buy time, because you have perceived that the command 22from me is firm, 9that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only 23one 24decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt 25words before me until the 26situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, so that I may 27know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” 10The Chaldeans answered 28the king and said, “There is no person on earth who could declare the matter 29to the king, because no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any 30soothsayer priest, sorcerer, or Chaldean. 11Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it 31to the king except 32gods, whose 33dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”

12Because of this, the king became 34angry and extremely furious, and he gave orders to kill all the wise men of Babylon.

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 Gen 41:8; Ex 7:11; Is 47:12, 13; Dan 1:20; 2:10, 27; 4:6; 5:7 ↩
7. Daniel 2:2 Probably master astrologers, diviners, etc., and so throughout the ch ↩
8. Daniel 2:2 Lit explain to ↩
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 is issued by me ↩
18. Daniel 2:5 Lit turned 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 See note 1 v 5 ↩
23. Daniel 2:9 Esth 4:11; Dan 3:15 ↩
24. Daniel 2:9 Or verdict ↩
25. Daniel 2:9 Lit word ↩
26. Daniel 2:9 Lit time ↩
27. Daniel 2:9 Is 41:23 ↩
28. Daniel 2:10 Lit before the ↩
29. Daniel 2:10 Lit of ↩
30. Daniel 2:10 Dan 2:2, 27 ↩
31. Daniel 2:11 Lit before ↩
32. Daniel 2:11 Gen 41:39; Dan 5:11 ↩
33. Daniel 2:11 Ex 29:45; Is 57:15 ↩
34. Daniel 2:12 Ps 76:10; Dan 2:5; 3:13, 19 ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Daniel 2