Daniel 4:7

4:7 When the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners entered, I recounted the dream for them. But they were unable to make known its interpretation to me.

Daniel 5:8

5:8 So all the king’s wise men came in, but they were unable to read the writing or to make known its ¹  interpretation to the king.

Genesis 41:8

41:8 In the morning he ²  was troubled, so he called for ³  all the diviner-priests ⁴  of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, ⁵  but no one could interpret ⁶  them for him. ⁷ 

Isaiah 44:25

44:25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers ⁸ 

and humiliates ⁹  the omen readers,

who overturns the counsel of the wise men ¹⁰ 

and makes their advice ¹¹  seem foolish,

[5:8]  ¹ tc Read וּפִשְׁרֵהּ (ufishreh) with the Qere rather than וּפִשְׁרָא (ufishra’) of the Kethib.

[41:8]  ² tn Heb “his spirit.”

[41:8]  ³ tn Heb “he sent and called,” which indicates an official summons.

[41:8]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term חַרְטֹם (khartom) is an Egyptian loanword (hyr-tp) that describes a class of priests who were skilled in such interpretations.

[41:8]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has the singular (though the Samaritan Pentateuch reads the plural). If retained, the singular must be collective for the set of dreams. Note the plural pronoun “them,” referring to the dreams, in the next clause. However, note that in v. 15 Pharaoh uses the singular to refer to the two dreams. In vv. 17-24 Pharaoh seems to treat the dreams as two parts of one dream (see especially v. 22).

[41:8]  ⁶ tn “there was no interpreter.”

[41:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “for Pharaoh.” The pronoun “him” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[44:25]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text has בַּדִּים (baddim), perhaps meaning “empty talkers” (BDB 95 s.v. III בַּד). In the four other occurrences of this word (Job 11:3; Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30; 50:36) the context does not make the meaning of the term very clear. Its primary point appears to be that the words spoken are meaningless or false. In light of its parallelism with “omen readers,” some have proposed an emendation to בָּרִים (barim, “seers”). The Mesopotamian baru-priests were divination specialists who played an important role in court life. See R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 93-98. Rather than supporting an emendation, J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:189, n. 79) suggests that Isaiah used בַּדִּים purposively as a derisive wordplay on the Akkadian word baru (in light of the close similarity of the d and r consonants).

[44:25]  ⁹ tn Or “makes fools of” (NIV, NRSV); NAB and NASB both similar.

[44:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “who turns back the wise” (so NRSV); NIV “overthrows the learning of the wise”; TEV “The words of the wise I refute.”

[44:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “their knowledge” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).