Daniel 2:5

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Daniel 2:1-13

We meet with a great difficulty in the date of this story; it is said to be in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 2:1. Now Daniel was carried to Babylon in his first year, and, it should seem, he was three years under tutors and governors before he was presented to the king, Dan. 1:5. How then could this happen in the second year? Perhaps, though three years were appointed for the education of other children, yet Daniel was so forward that he was taken into business when he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Daniel 2:5

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans ,.... In the same language they spoke to him: the thing is gone from me ; either the dream was gone from him; it was out of his mind, he had forgot it, and could not call it to remembrance; he had been dreaming of monarchies and kingdoms, which are themselves but dreams and tales, and empty things that pass away, and which he might have learned from hence: or, as it may be rendered, "the word is confirmed by me" F26 מלתא מני אזדא ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 2:5

Ye shall be cut in pieces - This was arbitrary and tyrannical in the extreme; but, in the order of God's providence, it was overruled to serve the most important purpose. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 2:5

Verse 5 Here the king requires from the Chaldeans more than they professed to afford him; for although their boasting, as we have said, was foolish in promising to interpret any dream, yet they never claimed the power of narrating to any one his dreams. The king, therefore, seems to me to act unjustly in not regarding what they had hitherto professed, and the limits of their art and science, if indeed they had any science! When he says — the matter or speech had departed from him, the words... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 2:1-13

The revelation lost. "My spirit was troubled to know the dream" ( Daniel 2:3 ). Since the word "and," at the beginning of this chapter, links it with Daniel 1:21 , i.e. Daniel's public life with Daniel's preparation, it may be well here to notice what his preparation had been. 1 . At home, and the associations of Jerusalem. 2 . Knowledge of previous revelations (see Daniel 9:2 ). 3 . Moral victory at a crisis of history. 4 . Experience of life at one of its great... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 2:1-13

The failure and discomfiture of falsehood. As every drop of water on the surface of the hills has a tendency to flow towards the ocean, as every step of the racer moves towards the goal, so every event in every kingdom points toward the establishment of Messiah's empire. The exile of the Jews, though apparently a retrograde movement in the spiritual machinery; the special education of Daniel and his companions; the heathen monarch's dream; the discomfiture of the magicians;—all these, and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 2:1-49

EXPOSITION DANIEL FIRST BECOMES DISTINGUISHED . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 2:2-18

Character revealed by trial. Critical moments are tests of character, In this incident the leading features of three distinct classes of character are clearly revealed. I. THE CONDUCT OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR REVEALS THE EVIL CHARACTER or TYRANNY . 1 . It is selfish. Though the charge of a vast empire is entrusted to him, the king exercises, is irresponsible power of life and death simply for his own convenience. 2 . It is unreasonable. Nebuchadnezzar not only... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 2:5

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. The version of the LXX . has slight but important differences from the Massoretic text. It is as follows "And the king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if therefore ye do not tell me the dream truly and show me the interpretation thereof, ye... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Daniel 2:5

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me - The Vulgate renders this, “Sermo recessit a me” - “The word is departed from me.” So the Greek, Ὁ λόγος ἀπ ̓ ἐμοῦ ἀπέστη Ho logos ap' emou apestē. Luther, “Es ist mir entfallen” - “It has fallen away from me,” or has departed from me. Coverdale, “It is gone from me.” The Chaldee word rendered “the thing” - מלתה mı̂llethâh - means, properly, “a word, saying, discourse” - something which is “spoken;” then, like דבר... read more

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