Daniel 2:2

2:2 The king issued an order ¹  to summon the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and wise men ²  in order to explain his dreams to him. ³  So they came and awaited the king’s instructions. ⁴ 

Daniel 2:5

2:5 The king replied ⁵  to the wise men, “My decision is firm. ⁶  If you do not inform me of both the dream and its interpretation, you will be dismembered ⁷  and your homes reduced to rubble!

Daniel 2:14

2:14 Then Daniel spoke with prudent counsel ⁸  to Arioch, who was in charge of the king’s executioners and who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 2:18

2:18 He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he ⁹  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 2:27

2:27 Daniel replied to the king, “The mystery that the king is asking about is such that no wise men, astrologers, magicians, or diviners can possibly disclose it to the king.

Daniel 2:48

2:48 Then the king elevated Daniel to high position and bestowed on him many marvelous gifts. He granted him authority over the entire province of Babylon and made him the main prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 4:6

4:6 So I issued an order ¹⁰  for all the wise men of Babylon to be brought ¹¹  before me so that they could make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

Daniel 5:15

5:15 Now the wise men and ¹²  astrologers were brought before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation. But they were unable to disclose the interpretation of the message.

Daniel 11:33

11:33 These who are wise among the people will teach the masses. ¹³  However, they will fall ¹⁴  by the sword and by the flame, ¹⁵  and they will be imprisoned and plundered for some time. ¹⁶ 

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¹ tn Heb “said.” So also in v. 12.

² tn Heb “Chaldeans.” The term Chaldeans (Hebrew כַּשְׂדִּים, kasdim) is used in the book of Daniel both in an ethnic sense and, as here, to refer to a caste of Babylonian wise men and astrologers.

³ tn Heb “to explain to the king his dreams.”

⁴ tn Heb “stood before the king.”

⁵ tn Aram “answered and said,” a common idiom to indicate a reply, but redundant in contemporary English.

⁶ tn It seems clear from what follows that Nebuchadnezzar clearly recalls the content of the dream, although obviously he does not know what to make of it. By not divulging the dream itself to the would-be interpreters, he intends to find out whether they are simply leading him on. If they can tell him the dream’s content, which he is able to verify, he then can have confidence in their interpretation, which is what eludes him. The translation “the matter is gone from me” (cf. KJV, ASV), suggesting that the king had simply forgotten the dream, is incorrect. The Aramaic word used here (אַזְדָּא, ’azda’) is probably of Persian origin; it occurs in the OT only here and in v. 8. There are two main possibilities for the meaning of the word: “the matter is promulgated by me” (see KBL 1048 s.v.) and therefore “publicly known” (cf. NRSV; F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 62-63, §189), or “the matter is irrevocable” (cf. NAB, NIV, TEV, CEV, NLT; HALOT 1808 s.v. אזד; cf. also BDB 1079 s.v.). The present translation reflects this latter option. See further E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 3.

⁷ tn Aram “made limbs.” Cf. 3:29.

⁸ tn Aram “returned prudence and counsel.” The expression is a hendiadys.

⁹ tn Aram “Daniel.” The proper name is redundant here in English, and has not been included in the translation.

¹⁰ tn Aram “from me there was placed a decree.”

¹¹ tn The Aramaic infinitive here is active.

¹² tn The Aramaic text does not have “and.” The term “astrologers” is either an appositive for “wise men” (cf. KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV), or the construction is to be understood as asyndetic (so the translation above).

¹³ tn Heb “the many.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “stumble.”

¹⁵ tn Or “by burning.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “days.”