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Daniel 2:10

in Daniel 2

The astrologers answered the king, “No one on earth can do what the king requests! No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter, forasmuch as no king, lord, or ruler, hath asked such a thing of any magician, or enchanter, or Chaldean.

KJV

The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.

This verse in Daniel 2

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Hippolytus of Rome

Commentary on Daniel 2.4 · Written before 235.

on Daniel 2:10-11

And so since they said that what the king sought was impossible to be recounted by a man, God showed them that the things which are impossible with men, are possible with God.

This site's exposition

shew the king's matter

on Daniel 2:10-11

The Chaldeans' answer is candid in a way nothing before it has been, there is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter, no king before Nebuchadnezzar has ever asked such a thing, and the reason follows in a sentence that indicts their own gods, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. The bench notes the irony the narrative sets up without comment, pagan seers confessing that the very gods they serve do not walk among men, in a book about to show the God of heaven doing exactly what they say cannot be done.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER TWO · Written before 420.

on Daniel 2:9-10

Verses 9, 10. "Therefore tell me the dream, that I may be certain that ye are giving me its true interpretation. The Chaldeans therefore made this reply in the king's presence: 'There is no man on earth who would be able to fulfil what thou hast spoken, O king!'" The magi confess, along with the soothsayers - and all secular learning concurs - that foreknowledge of the future lies not in man's province but in God's. By this test it is proved that the prophets who proclaimed things to come spoke by the Spirit of God.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

There is not a man upon the earth - The thing is utterly impossible to man. This was their decision: and when Daniel gave the dream, with its interpretation, they knew that the spirit of the holy gods was in him. So, even according to their own theology, he was immeasurably greater than the wisest in Babylon or in the world.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

who..the king’s word who will be able to tell the king’s word.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Daniel 2:10:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

30 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • עֲנ֨וֹthey replied

    anoH603230 times

  • כַשְׂדָּאֵ֤יChaldeans the

    khasdaiH37798 times

  • קֳדָם־before

    kodom-H692542 times

  • מַלְכָּא֙king the

    malka'H4430180 times

  • וְאָ֣מְרִ֔יןand [they were] saying

    veamerinH56071 times

  • לָֽא־not

    la'-H380982 times

  • אִיתַ֤יthere

    ʾitaiH38317 times

  • אֲנָשׁ֙[is] a person

    ʾanashH60625 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5922104 times

  • יַבֶּשְׁתָּ֔אearth the

    yabeshta'H3007

  • דִּ֚יwho

    diH1768345 times

  • מִלַּ֣ת[the] matter of

    milatH440624 times

  • מַלְכָּ֔אking the

    malka'H4430180 times

  • יוּכַ֖לhe will be able

    yukhalH320211 times

  • לְהַחֲוָיָ֑הto declare

    lehachavayahH232414 times

  • כָּל־as to

    kol-

  • קֳבֵ֗לbecause

    kovelH690329 times

  • דִּ֚יthat

    diH1768345 times

  • כָּל־any

    kol-H360682 times

  • מֶ֙לֶךְ֙king

    melekhH4430180 times

  • רַ֣בgreat

    ravH722915 times

  • וְשַׁלִּ֔יטand powerful

    veshalitH799010 times

  • מִלָּ֤הa matter

    milahH440624 times

  • כִדְנָה֙like this

    khidnahH183658 times

  • לָ֣אnot

    la'H380982 times

  • שְׁאֵ֔לhe has asked

    sheelH75936 times

  • לְכָל־to any

    lekholH360682 times

  • חַרְטֹּ֖םmagician

    charttomH27495 times

  • וְאָשַׁ֥ףand conjurer

    veashafH8266 times

  • וְכַשְׂדָּֽי׃and Chaldean

    vekhasdaiH37798 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Daniel 2:27

    Daniel answered the king, “No wise man, enchanter, medium, or magician can explain to the king the mystery of which he inquires.

    it leads to

    • Daniel 2:2

      So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to explain his dreams. When they came and stood before the king,

    • Isaiah 44:25

      who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,

    • Isaiah 47:12–14

      So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!

    • Daniel 2:10–11

      The astrologers answered the king, “No one on earth can do what the king requests! No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer.

    • Daniel 5:7–8

      The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers, and diviners to be brought in, and he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this inscription and tells me its interpretation will be…

Where this verse is studied

About Daniel

Daniel in the Lions' Den — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Daniel in the Lions' Den — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel; Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 2.4; Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER TWO and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.