1. Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him.
2. So the king said to call the magicians and the conjurers and the sorcerers and the astrologers to tell to the king his dreams. And they came in and they stood before the king.
3. And the king said to them, “I have had a dream and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.”
4. And the astrologers said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants and we will reveal the explanation.”
5. The king answered and said to the astrologers, “The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its explanation, then you will be broken into pieces and your houses will be laid in ruins.
6. But if you tell me the dream and its explanation, you will receive gifts and rewards and great honor from me. Therefore, tell me the dream and its explanation.”
7. They answered once more and said, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants and we will make the explanation known.”
8. The king answered and said, “Certainly I know that you are trying to gain time because you have seen that this matter is firmly decreed by me,
9. for if you do not make the dream known to me, your verdict is fixed, and you have conspired to say a lying and deceitful word to me until the circumstances will change. Therefore, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can tell me its explanation.”
10. The astrologers answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth that is able to reveal the word of the king; in fact, no great and powerful king has ever asked a thing like this of any magician or conjurer or astrologer.
11. And the thing that the king is asking is too difficult and there is no one who can reveal it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with mortals.”
12. Because of this the king became angry, and he became very much enraged, and he said that all the wise men of Babylon are to be destroyed.
13. And the decree was issued, and the wise men were on the verge of being executed, and they searched for Daniel and his companions to be executed.
14. Then Daniel responded prudently and discretely to Arioch, the commander of the imperial guard of the king, who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon.