Daniel 2:27-28

2:27 Daniel replied to the king, “The mystery that the king is asking about is such that no wise men, astrologers, magicians, or diviners can possibly disclose it to the king. 2:28 However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, ¹  and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the times to come. ²  The dream and the visions you had while lying on your bed ³  are as follows.

Daniel 5:11

5:11 There is a man in your kingdom who has within him a spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, he proved to have ⁴  insight, discernment, and wisdom like that ⁵  of the gods. ⁶  King Nebuchadnezzar your father appointed him chief of the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners. ⁷ 

Genesis 41:39

41:39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has enabled you to know all this, there is no one as wise and discerning ⁸  as you are!

Exodus 8:19

8:19 The magicians said ⁹  to Pharaoh, “It is the finger ¹⁰  of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ¹¹  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

Matthew 19:26

19:26 Jesus ¹²  looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, ¹³  but for God all things are possible.”

¹ tn Aram “a revealer of mysteries.” The phrase serves as a quasi-title for God in Daniel.

² tn Aram “in the latter days.”

³ tn Aram “your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed.”

⁴ tn Aram “[there were] discovered to be in him.”

⁵ tn Aram “wisdom like the wisdom.” This would be redundant in terms of English style.

⁶ tc Theodotion lacks the phrase “and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods.”

⁷ tc The MT includes a redundant reference to “your father the king” at the end of v. 11. None of the attempts to explain this phrase as original are very convincing. The present translation deletes the phrase, following Theodotion and the Syriac.

⁸ tn Heb “as discerning and wise.” The order has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁹ tn Heb “and the magicians said.”

¹⁰ tn The word “finger” is a bold anthropomorphism (a figure of speech in which God is described using human characteristics).

¹¹ tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh became hard.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.

¹² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹³ tn The plural Greek term ἄνθρωποις (anqrwpois) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NASB 1995 update, “people”). Because of the contrast here between mere mortals and God (“impossible for men, but for God all things are possible”) the phrase “mere humans” has been used in the translation. There may also be a slight wordplay with “the Son of Man” in v. 28.