Daniel 2:7 meaning summary explained with word-by-word analysis enriched with context, commentary and Cross References from KJV, NIV, ESV and NLT.
Daniel 2:7 kjv
They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.
Daniel 2:7 nkjv
They answered again and said, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation."
Daniel 2:7 niv
Once more they replied, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
Daniel 2:7 esv
They answered a second time and said, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation."
Daniel 2:7 nlt
They said again, "Please, Your Majesty. Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means."
Daniel 2 7 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Isa 44:25 | "who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish;" | God's power to nullify human wisdom and divination. |
| 1 Cor 1:19 | "For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.'" | Human wisdom made foolish by divine purpose. |
| 1 Cor 1:21 | "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." | Worldly wisdom fails to grasp God. |
| Jer 10:23 | "I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." | Human inability to fully control or understand life without God. |
| Isa 29:13-14 | "...their fear of me is a commandment taught by men... the wisdom of their wise men shall perish..." | Religious acts/knowledge divorced from divine truth are useless. |
| 1 Cor 2:14 | "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him..." | Unregenerate human inability to understand spiritual truths. |
| Amos 3:7 | "For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets." | God reveals secrets only to His chosen. |
| Psa 25:14 | "The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant." | Intimacy with God brings divine revelation. |
| Deut 29:29 | "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us..." | God reserves certain knowledge for Himself. |
| Prov 2:6 | "For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." | God is the sole source of true wisdom. |
| Job 12:13 | "With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding." | All true wisdom originates with God. |
| Jas 1:5 | "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach..." | God grants wisdom to those who ask. |
| Dan 2:17-19 | "Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah... and Daniel praised the God of heaven." | Daniel's response: prayer for divine wisdom, contrasted with wise men's plea. |
| Dan 2:27-28 | "No wise man, enchanter, magician, or astrologer can show to the king the secret that the king has asked... there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets..." | Explicit statement on the unique capacity of God. |
| Gen 40:8 | "They said to him, 'We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.' Joseph said to them, 'Do not interpretations belong to God?'" | God, not man, provides interpretations, even when the dream is known. |
| Gen 41:15-16 | "Pharaoh said to Joseph... I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.' Joseph answered Pharaoh, 'It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.'" | Joseph denies personal ability, attributes interpretation to God. |
| Isa 47:13-14 | "Let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens... But they cannot save you..." | Critique of Babylonian astrologers' inability to save themselves. |
| Rom 1:21-22 | "For although they knew God, they did not honor him... claiming to be wise, they became fools..." | Gentile wise men's intellectual folly due to rejecting God. |
| Jer 14:14 | "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them... lying vision, divination, by worthlessness, and by the deceit of their own mind." | False prophets speak from their own mind, not divine revelation. |
| Zech 10:2 | "For the teraphim utter nonsense... and the diviners see lying visions; they speak empty dreams and give false comfort." | The emptiness of pagan divination and dream interpretation. |
| Job 28:20-21 | "From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?... it is hidden from the eyes of all living..." | True wisdom's source is beyond human reach and discovery. |
| Prov 16:9 | "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." | God's ultimate sovereignty over human intentions and outcomes. |
Daniel 2 verses
Daniel 2 7 meaning
Daniel 2:7 records the Chaldean wise men's reiterated plea to King Nebuchadnezzar. They emphasize that for them to provide the interpretation, the king must first reveal the dream itself. This highlights the inherent limitation of their human wisdom and occult practices: they could interpret existing dreams but possessed no capacity to divine forgotten divine revelation.
Daniel 2 7 Context
Daniel chapter 2 opens with King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon having a deeply disturbing dream that he subsequently forgets. This dream causes him immense distress. In an unprecedented move, he demands his entire company of wise men – comprising magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans – not only to interpret his dream but, more critically, to first tell him what the dream was. This request puts them in an impossible position, as their professional craft relied on interpreting known dreams, not divining forgotten ones. The king's demand is severe, threatening them with execution and confiscation of property if they fail, while promising great rewards if they succeed (Dan 2:5-6). Daniel 2:7 captures their second desperate plea, emphasizing their inability to meet the king's extraordinary and impossible requirement, thereby setting the stage for the dramatic revelation of God's sovereign power through Daniel.
Daniel 2 7 Word analysis
- עֲנוֹ (ʻăno) - "They answered." (Aramaic) This is a plural verb, indicating the collective response of the wise men. It shows a unified front in their reply to the king, highlighting their shared predicament and professional consensus.
- תִנְיָנוּת (tiṉyānût) - "a second time," "again." (Aramaic, derived from "two".) This word is crucial. It signals that this is not their initial response; they had already pleaded their case (Dan 2:4). Their repeated insistence underscores the king's unwavering demand and their increasing desperation, adding dramatic tension to the narrative.
- וְאָמְרִין (wə’āmrîn) - "and said," "and they were saying." (Aramaic) A participle used to indicate continuous or concurrent action. It describes the direct content of their speech, formalizing their persistent argument.
- מַלְכָּא (malkāʾ) - "the king." (Aramaic) The subject of their plea, emphasizing that the vital information (the dream) rests solely with the king. His authority is recognized, yet it clashes with his demand.
- חֶלְמָא (ḥelmāʾ) - "the dream." (Aramaic) The central, unremembered, divine revelation that is the source of all conflict and subsequent prophecy. This specific "dream" is beyond their reach.
- יֵאמַר (yē’mar) - "let him tell," "he should tell." (Aramaic jussive/imperfect) This expresses a strong request or suggestion, almost a plea. It reflects their operational condition – they can only function if this information is provided.
- לְעַבְדוֹהִי (ləʿabədōhi) - "to his servants." (Aramaic) The wise men refer to themselves using a term that signifies submission and service, positioning themselves humbly before the king but also implying their functional boundaries within that servitude.
- וּפִשְׁרָה (ûpišərāh) - "and its interpretation," "and its meaning." (Aramaic, from P.SH.R, "to loosen, solve, interpret") This term explicitly defines what they can do, but it remains conditional upon knowing the dream itself.
- נְהַחֲוֵא (nəḥăḥăwē) - "we will declare," "we will show." (Aramaic imperfect) This expresses their strong confidence and readiness to perform their specialized skill once their condition is met, highlighting their professional domain while indirectly revealing their professional limitations.
Words-group analysis
- "They answered a second time and said": This phrase accentuates the impasse. The wise men have already stated their position, but the king has not relented. Their repetition demonstrates their helplessness against the king's extraordinary demand and the unmovable nature of their limitation. It underscores the severity of the crisis in the Babylonian court.
- "Let the king tell his servants the dream": This is the fundamental premise of their work. It clearly distinguishes between two levels of knowledge: the revealed dream (which they expect to receive) and its interpretation (which they claim to provide). This condition highlights that human-based occult arts are passive receivers, not active discoverers, of foundational revelation.
- "and we will declare the interpretation": This concluding clause reasserts their professional competency. They are confident in their ability to interpret a given dream, underscoring that their current dilemma stems from the king withholding the dream, not from their inability to interpret in general. This set-up powerfully contrasts their professional confidence with their current impotence before the divine mystery.
Daniel 2 7 Bonus section
The wise men's second, more emphatic response, even under threat of execution, demonstrates that what the king demanded was truly beyond the scope of their combined intellectual and spiritual traditions. It was not a matter of lacking skill or effort, but a fundamental ontological barrier for them: they operated on a system where inputs were known, but divine forgotten revelation was an input beyond their realm. This highlights a deliberate structure in Daniel, emphasizing that God chooses to veil some truths and then reveal them through His chosen instruments, in contrast to the false claims of pagan systems. This initial failure of the wise men prepares the reader to fully appreciate the divine nature of the revelation when it ultimately comes through Daniel.
Daniel 2 7 Commentary
Daniel 2:7 forms a critical turning point in the narrative. The repeated plea from the wise men exposes the absolute impotence of even the most sophisticated pagan wisdom and occult practices in the face of true divine mystery. These experts, trained in ancient arts of divination and astrology, openly admit they cannot access the forgotten dream through any human or mystical means available to them. Their claim to be able to "declare the interpretation" only if the dream is given, further highlights their intrinsic limitation: they are interpreters of existing knowledge, not revealers of God's hidden counsel. This moment serves as a powerful theological polemic, demonstrating that Babylonian gods and their supposed mediators hold no power over the realm of God's sovereign secrets. It intentionally sets the stage for Daniel, whose true God does reveal secrets, showcasing that genuine wisdom and knowledge stem solely from the Creator of heaven and earth, not from human ingenuity or pagan arts. This confession of ignorance among the wise men thus clears the way for the ultimate revelation of the God of Israel.