Daniel 2:12

For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
For	קֳבֵ֣ל ko.Vel	H6903	(adverbially) in front of · noun, common both genders singular absolute
this	דְּנָ֔ה de.Nah	H1836	this · demonstrative particle
cause	לְכֹ֖ל le.Khol	H3606	properly · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
king	מַלְכָּ֕א mal.Ka'	H4430	a king · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
angry	בְּנַ֖ס be.Nas	H1149	to be enraged · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
very	שַׂגִּ֑יא sa.Gi'	H7690	large (in size · adjective, both genders singular absolute
furious	וּקְצַ֣ף u.ke.Tzaf	H7108	to become enraged · conjunction + verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
commanded	וַאֲמַר֙ va.'a.Mar	H560	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
destroy	לְה֣וֹבָדָ֔ה le.Hoa.Dah	H7	properly · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
all	כֹּל kôl	H3606	properly
wise	חַכִּימֵ֥י cha.ki.Mei	H2445	wise · adjective, masculine plural construct
Babylon	בָבֶֽל va.Vel	H895	Babel (i.e. Babylon) · proper noun, a place name

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Daniel 3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king.
Psalms 76:10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
Daniel 3:19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, a…
Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Beth…
Job 5:2 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
Proverbs 16:14 The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.
Proverbs 19:12 The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.
Proverbs 20:2 The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 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 had been but one year at school, and so in the second year he became thus considerable. Some make it to be the second year after he began to reign alone, but the fifth or sixth year since he began to reign…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 2:12

Daniel and his companions do not seem to have been actually numbered among the Magi or Chaldeans, and so were not summoned before the king. Providence ordered it so that all mere human wisdom should be shown vain before His divine power, through His servant, was put forth. Dan 2:24 shows that the decree for slaying the wise men had not been actually executed when Daniel interposed.

Adam Clarke on Daniel 2:10

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.

John Gill on Daniel 2:12

For this cause the king was angry, and very furious,.... Not only because they could not tell his dream, and the interpretation of it; but because they represented him as requiring a thing unreasonable and impossible, which had never been done by any potentate but himself, and could never be answered but by the gods: this threw him into an excess of wrath and fury; which in those tyrannical and despotic princes was exceeding great and terrible: and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon; not only those that were now in his presence, but all others; concluding from this instance that they were an useless set of men, yea, deceivers and impostors.

The Church Fathers

Verses 12, 13. "And when he had heard this, the king in a furious rage gave orders that all the wise men of Babylon should be slain. And when the decree went forth, the wise men were being slaughtered..." The Hebrews raise the question of why Daniel and the three lads did not enter before the king along with the other wise men, and why they were ordered to be slain with the rest when the decree was issued. They have explained the difficulty in this way, by saying that at that time, when the king was promising rewards and gifts and great honor, they did not care to go before him, lest they should appear to be shamelessly grasping after the wealth and honor of the Chaldeans. Or else it was undoubtedly true that the Chaldeans themselves, being envious of the Jews' reputation and learning, entered alone before the king, as if to obtain the rewards by themselves. Afterwards they were perfectly willing to have those whom they had denied any hope of glory to share in a common peril.
— Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER TWO

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or…
Wise men — Mentioned in Dan. 2:12 included three classes, (1) astrologers, (2) Chaldeans, and (3) soothsayers. The word in the original (hakamim) probably means “medicine men. In Chaldea medicine was only a…
Divination · Those who practised: Regarded as wise men — Those who practised: Regarded as wise men
Magician · Nebuchadnezzars — Nebuchadnezzars

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Daniel 2:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 2:1-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 2:12

Adam Clarke on Daniel 2:10

John Gill on Daniel 2:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Daniel 2:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 2:1-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 2:12

Adam Clarke on Daniel 2:10

John Gill on Daniel 2:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Daniel 2:12

Keil & Delitzsch on Daniel 2:1-13

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Daniel 2:12

Rashi on Daniel 2:12