8. King Nebuchadnezzar answered, “I know you are trying to get more time, because you know that I meant what I said.
9. If you don’t tell me my dream, you will be punished. You have all agreed to tell me lies and wicked things, hoping things will change. Now, tell me the dream so that I will know you can tell me what it really means!”
10. The wise men answered the king, saying, “No one on earth can do what the king asks! No great and powerful king has ever asked the fortune-tellers, magicians, or wise men to do this;
11. the king is asking something that is too hard. Only the gods could tell the king this, but the gods do not live among people.”
12. When the king heard their answer, he became very angry. He ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be killed.
13. So King Nebuchadnezzar’s order to kill the wise men was announced, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to kill them.
14. Arioch, the commander of the king’s guards, was going to kill the wise men of Babylon. But Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and skill,
15. saying, “Why did the king order such a terrible punishment?” Then Arioch explained everything to Daniel.
16. So Daniel went to King Nebuchadnezzar and asked for an appointment so that he could tell the king what his dream meant.
17. Then Daniel went to his house and explained the whole story to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.