New American Standard Bible 2020

Daniel 2:2-13

2Then the king 1gave orders to call in the 2soothsayer priests, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the 3Chaldeans, to 4tell 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, “The command 13from 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 turned into 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 trying to buy time, because you have perceived that the command 18from me is firm, 9that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only 19one 20decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt 21words before me until the 22situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, so that I may 23know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” 10The Chaldeans answered 24the king and said, “There is no person on earth who could declare the matter 25to the king, because no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any 26soothsayer priest, sorcerer, or Chaldean. 11Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it 27to the king except 28gods, whose 29dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”

12Because of this, the king became 30angry and extremely furious, and he gave orders to kill all the wise men of Babylon. 13So the 31decree was issued that the wise men be killed; and they looked for 32Daniel and his friends, to 33kill them.

Read all of Daniel 2

Notes

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

Notes

Commentaries on Daniel 2