Daniel 2:4-11

2:4 The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic ¹ ] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its ²  interpretation.” 2:5 The king replied ³  to the wise men, “My decision is firm. ⁴  If you do not inform me of both the dream and its interpretation, you will be dismembered ⁵  and your homes reduced to rubble! 2:6 But if you can disclose the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts, a reward, and considerable honor. So disclose to me the dream and its interpretation!” 2:7 They again replied, “Let the king inform us ⁶  of the dream; then we will disclose its ⁷  interpretation.” 2:8 The king replied, “I know for sure that you are attempting to gain time, because you see that my decision is firm. 2:9 If you don’t inform me of the dream, there is only one thing that is going to happen to you. ⁸  For you have agreed among yourselves to report to me something false and deceitful ⁹  until such time as things might change. So tell me the dream, and I will have confidence ¹⁰  that you can disclose its interpretation.”

2:10 The wise men replied to the king, “There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king’s secret, ¹¹  for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man. 2:11 What the king is asking is too difficult, and no one exists who can disclose it to the king, except for the gods – but they don’t live among mortals!” ¹² 

[2:4]  ¹ sn Contrary to common belief, the point here is not that the wise men (Chaldeans) replied to the king in the Aramaic language, or that this language was uniquely the language of the Chaldeans. It was this view that led in the past to Aramaic being referred to as “Chaldee.” Aramaic was used as a lingua franca during this period; its origins and usage were not restricted to the Babylonians. Rather, this phrase is better understood as an editorial note (cf. NAB) marking the fact that from 2:4b through 7:28 the language of the book shifts from Hebrew to Aramaic. In 8:1, and for the remainder of the book, the language returns to Hebrew. Various views have been advanced to account for this change of language, most of which are unconvincing. Most likely the change in language is a reflection of stages in the transmission history of the book of Daniel.

[2:4]  ² tn Or “the.”

[2:5]  ³ tn Aram “answered and said,” a common idiom to indicate a reply, but redundant in contemporary English.

[2:5]  ⁴ 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.

[2:5]  ⁵ tn Aram “made limbs.” Cf. 3:29.

[2:7]  ⁶ tn Aram “his servants.”

[2:7]  ⁷ tn Or “the.”

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Aram “one is your law,” i.e., only one thing is applicable to you.

[2:9]  ⁹ tn Aram “a lying and corrupt word.”

[2:9]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “I will know.”

[2:10]  ¹¹ tn Aram “matter, thing.”

[2:11]  ¹² tn Aram “whose dwelling is not with flesh.”