2:10 The wise men replied to the king, “There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king’s secret, 5 for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man. 2:11 What the king is asking is too difficult, and no one exists who can disclose it to the king, except for the gods – but they don’t live among mortals!” 6
1 tn Heb “said.” So also in v. 12.
2 tn Heb “Chaldeans.” The term Chaldeans (Hebrew כַּשְׂדִּים, kasdim) is used in the book of Daniel both in an ethnic sense and, as here, to refer to a caste of Babylonian wise men and astrologers.
3 tn Heb “to explain to the king his dreams.”
4 tn Heb “stood before the king.”
5 tn Aram “matter, thing.”
6 tn Aram “whose dwelling is not with flesh.”