Daniel 2 5

Daniel 2:5 kjv

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.

Daniel 2:5 nkjv

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, "My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap.

Daniel 2:5 niv

The king replied to the astrologers, "This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble.

Daniel 2:5 esv

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, "The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.

Daniel 2:5 nlt

But the king said to the astrologers, "I am serious about this. If you don't tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be turned into heaps of rubble!

Daniel 2 verses

Daniel 2 5 Meaning

King Nebuchadnezzar issued an irrevocable decree to his Chaldean wise men: they must reveal both his dream and its interpretation. His statement, "the word has gone from me," implies a definitive decision, whether he truly forgot the dream or shrewdly set an impossible test to expose their supposed wisdom. Failure to do so would result in the gruesome punishment of being cut into pieces, and their homes would be reduced to shameful dunghills. This verse underscores the absolute power and harsh justice of the king, while setting a formidable challenge that highlights the limitations of human wisdom when confronted with divine truth.

Daniel 2 5 Context

Daniel chapter 2 opens with King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon deeply troubled by a dream he had in the second year of his reign. He summons his trusted wise men – magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans – to interpret it. When they demand he first tell them the dream, Nebuchadnezzar presents this non-negotiable decree from verse 5. This demand sets up a divine drama, demonstrating the impotence of Babylonian wisdom against the omniscient God of Israel, whom Daniel serves. Historically, this occurs during the Judean exile, highlighting God's faithfulness and sovereignty even over powerful pagan empires. Culturally, the Babylonians heavily relied on omens, divination, and dream interpretation from their religious and scholarly elites, whom the king would turn to for counsel on matters of national significance and personal foreboding.

Daniel 2 5 Word analysis

• The king answered and said: This emphasizes the king's active role and direct address. In Aramaic, it signifies a formal, weighty declaration, underscoring the gravity of his words and setting the stage for his ultimatum.

• Chaldeans: (Aramaic: Kaśdā'īn). In this context, the term specifically designates a prominent class of Babylonian wise men renowned for their proficiency in astrology, divination, and secret knowledge. Their inability to fulfill the king's demand underscores the ultimate limitation of all human and pagan "wisdom" systems in comparison to true divine revelation.

• The word has gone from me: (Aramaic: minnī azdā milləṯā). This crucial phrase is often debated:

  • One view suggests Nebuchadnezzar genuinely "forgot" the dream, making it a test of authentic divine power to reveal lost information.
  • Another, more widely accepted view, is that it functions as an irrevocable "decree" that has "gone forth" from the king's lips, irrevocably set as a command that requires the wise men to reveal both the dream and its interpretation without his disclosure. This interpretation portrays the king's shrewdness in preventing them from fabricating an interpretation and forces them to demonstrate true supernatural insight. Both interpretations highlight the wise men's helplessness and the definitive nature of the king's challenge.

• If you do not make known to me: This highlights the conditional but inevitable outcome. Their fate is entirely dependent on meeting an extraordinary, seemingly impossible, demand, leaving no room for negotiation or excuses.

• The dream and its interpretation: The core of the king's dual demand. This emphasizes the king's cunning; simply providing an interpretation would be easy to falsify, but revealing the dream itself validates the accuracy of any accompanying interpretation. This requires true divine insight, not mere human deduction or deception.

• You shall be cut in pieces: (Aramaic: haddamīn tit'abədūn). A horrifying and public form of capital punishment, literally meaning "made into limbs" or "dismembered." This demonstrates the absolute, brutal power of the ancient Near Eastern monarchy and serves as a severe deterrent.

• Your houses shall be laid in ruins: (Aramaic: u'vāttēḵōn nəvālī yittəśāmūn). Literally "your houses shall be made into dunghills" or "rubbish heaps." This goes beyond simple demolition; it signifies a public act of utter degradation and defilement. It not only means the destruction of their property but also the public shaming and defilement of their heritage, their family name, and their societal status, an ultimate mark of disgrace and a permanent ruin.

• "The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, ‘The word has gone from me’": This group of words sets the king's uncompromising and final stance, directly addressing his chief advisors. It establishes the seemingly insurmountable hurdle—the knowledge must originate from them, demonstrating the supernatural ability they claimed to possess, rather than merely confirming what the king already knew. This effectively strips them of their usual methods and pretenses, forcing them to rely on genuine revelation or expose their fraudulence.

• "if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be laid in ruins": This powerful and terrifying conditional statement forms the irreversible decree. It delineates the non-negotiable requirements and the dual nature of the consequences: immediate, excruciating physical destruction, followed by the complete obliteration and defilement of their familial and societal legacy. This stark ultimatum from a volatile despot exposes the perilous existence of those serving pagan monarchs, but also providentially creates the context for God's power to be uniquely revealed.

Daniel 2 5 Bonus section

The profound level of threat against the Chaldean wise men—extending beyond their lives to the ultimate defilement and ruin of their family residences—highlights the sheer desperation and potentially divine disturbance the dream caused King Nebuchadnezzar. Such an extreme royal decree served not only as a brutal form of justice but also as a political maneuver, asserting absolute authority and intimidating any who might contemplate deceiving the king. The term "Chaldeans" here represents the pinnacle of ancient Mesopotamian magical and astrological practices, indicating that the king was turning to the most esteemed source of "wisdom" within his pagan system. The very nature of this seemingly impossible demand implicitly acknowledges that such hidden knowledge could only come from a divine source, thereby setting the stage for the demonstration of the One True God's unique power over all earthly wisdom and authority.

Daniel 2 5 Commentary

Daniel 2:5 dramatically initiates the conflict between worldly wisdom and divine revelation. Nebuchadnezzar's emphatic declaration, "the word has gone from me," whether a genuine memory loss or a strategic maneuver, effectively blocks all human methods of deception from his wise men. By demanding not only the interpretation but the very dream itself, the king forces them into an impossible situation, highlighting the limitations and emptiness of their claimed mystical powers and exposing their fraudulence. The barbaric threats of being "cut in pieces" and having their "houses laid in ruins" underscore the absolute power and mercilessness of Nebuchadnezzar, as well as the dire consequences for failing to meet his demands. This verse is pivotal; it perfectly sets the stage for God, through Daniel, to demonstrate His unparalleled sovereignty, wisdom, and unique ability to reveal true mysteries, contrasting sharply with the impotence of pagan deities and human wisdom.