Daniel 4:7

When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners came in, I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Babylonian king addresses his court after issuing a decree to summon all the wise men of Babylon. He reports the moment immediately after his magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners failed to interpret his dream, just before he calls Daniel into his presence.

The words — כַשְׂדָּאֵי (kas.d/ai) translates literally as the Chaldeans, a class of Babylonian court officials associated with divination.

The thread — The text notes that human experts cannot decipher dreams, a pattern that runs to Genesis 41:8 where Pharaoh’s magicians and wise men fail, and to Daniel 2:7 where the king’s servants cannot interpret a dream without first hearing it. Isaiah 44:25 confirms this theme by stating God foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners.

Why it lands — The text states that organized human wisdom and occult practice cannot access divine revelation. It requires the reader to abandon reliance on scholarly or magical methods and recognize that understanding comes only through the spirit of God.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

בֵּאדַ֣יִןbe./Da.yin<in>/ then עָלִּ֗יןa.la.lin[were] going in חַרְטֻמַיָּא֙char.tu.mai.Ya/'magicians/ the אָֽשְׁפַיָּ֔א'a.she.fai.Ya/'conjurers/ the כַּשְׂדָּאֵ֖יkas.d/aiChaldeans/ the וְגָזְרַיָּ֑אve./ga.ze.rai.Ya/'and/ astrologers/ the וְחֶלְמָ֗אve./chel.Ma/'and/ dream/ the אָמַ֤ר'a.Mar[was] saying אֲנָה֙'a.NahI קֳדָ֣מֵיה֔וֹןko.Da.mei./Honbefore/ them וּפִשְׁרֵ֖הּu./fish.Re/hand/ interpretation/ its לָא־la'-not מְהוֹדְעִ֥יןme.hod.'In[they were] making knownלִֽי׃L/ito/ me

King James Version

Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.

Cross-references

Isaiah 44:25 who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,
Daniel 2:7 They answered a second time, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will give the interpretation.”
Genesis 41:8 In the morning his spirit was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.
Jeremiah 27:9 But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
Daniel 2:1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled his spirit, and sleep escaped him.
Daniel 2:10 The astrologers answered the king, “No one on earth can do what the king requests! No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer.
Daniel 2:27 Daniel answered the king, “No wise man, enchanter, medium, or magician can explain to the king the mystery of which he inquires.
2 Timothy 3:8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and disqualified from the faith.