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.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
king	מַלְכָּא֙ mal.Ka'	H4430	a king · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
answered	עָנֵ֤ה 'a.Neh	H6032	properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
said	וְאָמַ֣ר ve.'a.Mar	H560	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Chaldeans	לְכַשְׂדָּאֵ֔י le.khas.da.'ei	H3779	a Chaldaean or inhabitant of Chaldaea · preposition + noun, gentilic masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
thing	מִלְּתָ֖א mi.le.Ta'	H4406	a word · noun, common feminine singular determined + particle of affirmation
gone	אַזְדָּ֑א 'az.Da'	H230	firm · adverb
me	מִנִּ֣י mi.Ni	H4481	properly · preposition + pronominal suffix
if	הֵ֣ן hen	H2006	lo! also there(-fore) · conjunction
not	לָ֤א la'	H3809	not (the simple or abs. negation) · negative particle
known	תְהֽוֹדְעוּנַּ֙נִי֙ te.hod.'u.Na.ni	H3046	to know (properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix
dream	חֶלְמָ֣א chel.Ma'	H2493	a dream · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
interpretation	וּפִשְׁרֵ֔הּ u.fish.Reh	H6591	an interpretation · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
cut	תִּתְעַבְד֔וּן tit.'av.Dun	H5648	to do · verb, imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
pieces	הַדָּמִין֙ ha.da.Min	H1917	something stamped to pieces · noun, common masculine plural absolute
houses	וּבָתֵּיכ֖וֹן u.va.tei.Khon	H1005	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
made	יִתְּשָׂמֽוּן yi.te.sa.Mun	H7761	to put (used in a great variety of applications · verb, imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
dunghill	נְוָלִ֥י ne.va.Li	H5122	a sink · noun, common both genders singular absolute

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

Ezra 6:11 Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hang…
Daniel 3:29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Ab…
2 Kings 10:27 And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.
Psalms 50:22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Deuteronomy 13:16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof…
1 Samuel 15:33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces befor…
Psalms 58:7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
Daniel 2:12 For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

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 2:5

The thing--that is, The dream, "is gone from me." GESENIUS translates, "The decree is gone forth from me," irrevocable (compare Isa 45:23); namely, that you shall be executed, if you do not tell both the dream and the interpretation. English Version is simpler, which supposes the king himself to have forgotten the dream. Pretenders to supernatural knowledge often bring on themselves their own punishment. cut in pieces-- (Sa1 15:33). houses . . . dunghill--rather, "a morass heap." The Babylonian houses were built of sun-dried bricks; when demolished, the rain dissolves the whole into a mass of mire, in the wet land, near the river [STUART]. As to the consistency of this cruel threat with…

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Adam Clarke on 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.

John Gill on 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" (z). Saadiah says, that some observe that the word here used has the signification of strength or firmness; and so Aben Ezra interprets the word, is stable and firm; to which agrees the Syriac version, "most sure is the word which I pronoun…

The Church Fathers

Therefore, in this way the vision was concealed from the king in Babylon, so that he who was chosen by God, was shown as being Daniel the prophet. For whenever a vision is hidden from others, yet is unveiled by another, this inevitably displays the one speaking as a prophet.
— Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 2.2

Verse 5. "If you do not show me the vision and its interpretation, ye shall perish and your homes shall be confiscated..." He threatened punishment and offered rewards, in order that if they should be able to tell him the dream, he might therefore believe also that which was uncertain, namely the meaning of the dream. But if they should be unable to tell the king what he in his mental confusion could not recall, they would also lose claim to trustworthiness in the interpretation they might give.
— 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

Bible — Bible, the English form of the Greek name Biblia, meaning “books,” the name which in the fifth century began to be given to the entire collection of sacred books, the “Library of Divine Revelation.”…
Chaldee language — Employed by the sacred writers in certain portions of the Old Testament, viz., Dan. 2:4-7, 28; Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Gen. 31:46; Jer. 10:11. It is the Aramaic dialect, as it is sometimes called, as…
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…
Houses · Of criminals, desolated — Of criminals, desolated
Magician · Nebuchadnezzars — Nebuchadnezzars
Punishments · Capital kinds of: Cutting in pieces — Capital kinds of: Cutting in pieces

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 2:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 2:1-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 2:5

Adam Clarke on Daniel 2:5

John Gill on Daniel 2:5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Daniel 2:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 2:1-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 2:5

Adam Clarke on Daniel 2:5

John Gill on Daniel 2:5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Daniel 2:5

Keil & Delitzsch on Daniel 2:1-13

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Daniel 2:4

Rashi on Daniel 2:5