Lexham English Bible

Daniel 2:8-14 Lexham English Bible (LEB)

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.