Daniel 2:13
New International Version
So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.

New Living Translation
And because of the king’s decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends.

English Standard Version
So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them.

Berean Standard Bible
So the decree went out that the wise men were to be executed, and men went to look for Daniel and his friends to execute them.

King James Bible
And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.

New King James Version
So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them.

New American Standard Bible
So the decree was issued that the wise men be killed; and they looked for Daniel and his friends, to kill them.

NASB 1995
So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them.

NASB 1977
So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them.

Legacy Standard Bible
So the law went forth that the wise men were to be killed; and they sought out Daniel and his friends to kill them.

Amplified Bible
So the decree went out that the wise men were to be killed; and they looked for Daniel and his companions to put them to death.

Christian Standard Bible
The decree was issued that the wise men were to be executed, and they searched for Daniel and his friends, to execute them.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The decree was issued that the wise men were to be executed, and they searched for Daniel and his friends, to execute them.

American Standard Version
So the decree went forth, and the wise men were to be slain; and they sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the command went out and the wise men were to be killed, and they were seeking to kill Daniel and his companions

Brenton Septuagint Translation
So the decree went forth, and they began to slay the wise men; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to slay them.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the decree being gone forth, the wise men were slain: and Daniel and his companions were sought for, to be put to death.

English Revised Version
So the decree went forth, and the wise men were to be slain; and they sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So a decree was issued that the wise advisers were to be killed, and some men were sent to find Daniel and his friends and kill them.

Good News Translation
So the order was issued for all of them to be killed, including Daniel and his friends.

International Standard Version
When the order went out to kill the advisors, they searched for Daniel and his friends to kill them, too.

JPS Tanakh 1917
So the decree went forth, and the wise men were to be slain; and they sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.

Literal Standard Version
And the sentence has gone forth, and the wise men are being slain, and they have sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.

Majority Standard Bible
So the decree went out that the wise men were to be executed, and men went to look for Daniel and his friends to execute them.

New American Bible
When the decree was issued that the wise men should be slain, Daniel and his companions were also sought out.

NET Bible
So a decree went out, and the wise men were about to be executed. They also sought Daniel and his friends so that they could be executed.

New Revised Standard Version
The decree was issued, and the wise men were about to be executed; and they looked for Daniel and his companions, to execute them.

New Heart English Bible
So the decree went forth, and the wise men were to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions to be killed.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.

World English Bible
So the decree went out, and the wise men were to be slain. They sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.

Young's Literal Translation
And the sentence hath gone forth, and the wise men are being slain, and they have sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
12This response made the king so furious with anger that he gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13So the decree went out that the wise men were to be executed, and men went to look for Daniel and his friends to execute them.

Cross References
Daniel 1:19
And the king spoke with them, and among all the young men he found no one equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the king's service.

Daniel 1:20
In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.

Daniel 2:24
Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, "Do not execute the wise men of Babylon! Bring me before the king, and I will give him the interpretation."

Daniel 5:19
Because of the greatness that He bestowed on him, the people of every nation and language trembled in fear before him. He killed whom he wished and kept alive whom he wished; he exalted whom he wished and humbled whom he wished.


Treasury of Scripture

And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.

the decree.

Daniel 6:9-15
Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree…

Esther 3:12-15
Then were the king's scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring…

Psalm 94:20
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?

and they.

Daniel 1:19,20
And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king…

Daniel 6:12
Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king's decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

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Companions Daniel Death Decree Fellows Forth Friends Issued Kill Order Sentence Slain Slay Sought Wise
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Companions Daniel Death Decree Fellows Forth Friends Issued Kill Order Sentence Slain Slay Sought Wise
Daniel 2
1. Nebuchadnezzar, forgetting his dream,
5. requires it of the Chaldeans, by promises and threats.
10. They acknowledging their inability are judged to die.
14. Daniel obtaining some respite finds the dream.
19. He blesses God.
24. He staying the decree is brought to the king.
31. The dream.
36. The interpretation.
46. Daniel's advancement.














Verse 13. - And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain. As the Aramaic stands, it might be translated as does Professor Fuller, "And the decree went forth, and the wise men were being slain;" the ו of co-ordination maybe regarded as here used of Subordination. Further, the use of the participle for the preterite is not by any means uncommon in Daniel, certainly mainly in the principal clause, as in ver. 5 of the present chapter. Noldeke, in his 'Syriac Grammar,' 278a, gives examples of the passive participle being used as here in the subordinate clause. The Septuagint is very condensed, but possibly drawn from a similar text, only such extreme condensation is unlike the translator elsewhere. It is possible that some part of the פְּקַד. (peqad), "to decree," was used, perhaps the participle hithpael. It is possible that the verb qetal was in the infinitive. Theodotion renders, "And the decree went forth, and the wise men were slain." This, though a possible translation, does not fit what we find represented to be the circumstances, as ver. 24 seems to assume that the wise men were not yet destroyed. On the other hand, it would be hardly possible to imagine the king allowing these wise men who had refused to answer his question, to go out of his presence in safety and unbound. It would seem more natural to imagine that they were carried off to prison, and that all the soothsaying class were intended to be gathered together in prison, in order that the vengeance of the king might be more appallingly manifest. The sentence looks at first sight to us as too savage to be true, but just as savage proofs of vengeance were given by Asshurbanipal. And they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. The Septuagint translation of this clause is somewhat paraphrastic, "And Daniel was sought for and all those with him in order to be put to death." The want of an antecedent to fix the nominative of the verb probably led to the sentence assuming its present mould; but "all" seems to have no word to occasion it. Theodotion follows the Massoretic text closely; so also does the Peshitta. It is clear from this that Daniel and his companions had not been summoned into the royal presence when the question concerning the dream was put to the wise men. This would seem to contradict the statement of Daniel 1:19, "Therefore stood they" - to wit these Hebrew youths - "before the king." Their position was probably like those who had passed the examination for the Indian Civil Service - they are accepted, but they have still a season of study, and then, after they go out to India, they occupy only subordinate situations at first. While permited to enter the ranks of the soothsayers and astrologers to the court, they were placed at first only in the lower grades, and would have to rise by degrees, and in ordinary circumstances a long time would elapse before they would be summoned into the immediate presence of the sovereign. On the reading of the LXX., Daniel and his friends would not, because they were Jews, and not Chaldeans. One has only to turn to the Talumdic tales to see how unlike this reasonable position is to the ordinary Jewish fictitious narrative. The Book of Daniel is not nearly prodigal enough in wonders to be a representative of the Jewish Midrash. It is further clear that the decree of the king went beyond those who had actually been in his council-chamber on that merest-able day. The idea of the king probably was that the treason which he had found in the heads of the various classes of Chaldean soothsayers would have permeated all the members. Babylonian and foreign, as well; therefore he orders them all to suffer a common fate. Wieseler's hypothesis, that this event took place close to the end of the three years of study which had been assigned to these youths, would suit the statement of events which we find here; although it is not necessary, yet on this assumption, the succession of events as narrated in this chapter becomes perfectly natural.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
So the decree
וְדָתָ֣א (wə·ḏā·ṯā)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular determinate
Strong's 1882: A royal edict, statute

went out
נֶפְקַ֔ת (nep̄·qaṯ)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 5312: To go or come out or forth

that the wise men
וְחַכִּֽימַיָּ֖א (wə·ḥak·kî·may·yā)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural determinate
Strong's 2445: Wise, a Magian

were to be executed,
מִֽתְקַטְּלִ֑ין (miṯ·qaṭ·ṭə·lîn)
Verb - Hitpael - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 6992: To kill

and men went to look for
וּבְע֛וֹ (ū·ḇə·‘ōw)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1156: To seek, ask

Daniel
דָּנִיֵּ֥אל (dā·nî·yêl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1841: Daniel -- 'God is my judge', an Israelite leader in Babylon

and his friends
וְחַבְר֖וֹהִי (wə·ḥaḇ·rō·w·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 2269: Fellow, comrade

to execute them.
לְהִתְקְטָלָֽה׃ (lə·hiṯ·qə·ṭā·lāh)
Preposition-l | Verb - Hitpael - Infinitive construct
Strong's 6992: To kill


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OT Prophets: Daniel 2:13 So the decree went forth and (Dan. Da Dn)
Daniel 2:12
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