1. In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar saw a dream, and his spirit was terrified, and his dream fled from him.
2. Yet the king commanded that the seers, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be gathered together to reveal to the king his dreams. When they arrived, they stood in front of the king.
3. And the king said to them, "I saw a dream, and, being confused in mind, I do not know what I saw."
4. And the Chaldeans answered the king in Syriac, "O king, live forever. Tell the dream to your servants, and we will reveal its interpretation."
5. And in answer, the king said to the Chaldeans, "The memory of it has slipped away from me. Unless you reveal the dream to me, and its meaning, you will be put to death, and your houses will be confiscated.
6. But if you explain the dream and its meaning, you will receive from me rewards, and gifts, and great honor. Therefore, reveal to me the dream and its interpretation."
7. They answered again and said, "Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will reveal its interpretation."
8. The king answered and said, "I am certain that you are stalling for time because you know that the memory of it has slipped away from me.
9. Therefore, if you do not reveal to me the dream, there is only one conclusion to be reached about you, that the interpretation is likewise false, and packed full of deception, so as to speak before me until the time passes away. And so, tell me the dream, so that I will also know that the interpretation that you tell me is likewise true."
10. Then the Chaldeans answered before the king, and they said, "There is no man on earth who can accomplish your word, O king. For neither has any king, however great and mighty, asked for an answer of this kind from every seer, and astrologer, and Chaldean.
11. For the answer that you seek, O king, is very difficult. Neither can anyone be found who can reveal it in the sight of the king, except the gods, whose conversation is not with men."
12. When he heard this, the king commanded, in fury and in great wrath, that all the wise men of Babylon should be destroyed.
13. And when the decree had gone forth, the wise men were put to death; and Daniel and his companions were sought, to be destroyed.
14. Then Daniel inquired, about the law and the sentence, of Arioch, the general of the king's army, who had gone forth to execute the wise men of Babylon.
15. And he asked him, who had received the orders of the king, for what reason such a cruel sentence had gone forth from the face of the king. And so, when Arioch had revealed the matter to Daniel,
16. Daniel went in and asked of the king that he would grant him time to reveal the solution to the king.
17. And he went into his house and explained the task to Hananiah, and Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,