4 And the Chaldeans speak to the king 'in' Aramaean, 'O king, to the ages live, tell the dream to thy servants, and the interpretation we do shew.' 5 The king hath answered and said to the Chaldeans, 'The thing from me is gone; if ye do not cause me to know the dream and its interpretation, pieces ye are made, and your houses are made dunghills; 6 and if the dream and its interpretation ye do shew, gifts, and fee, and great glory ye receive from before me, therefore the dream and its interpretation shew ye me.' 7 They have answered a second time, and are saying, 'Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and the interpretation we do shew.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Daniel 2:4-7
Commentary on Daniel 2:1-13
(Read Daniel 2:1-13)
The greatest men are most open to cares and troubles of mind, which disturb their repose in the night, while the sleep of the labouring man is sweet and sound. We know not the uneasiness of many who live in great pomp, and, as others vainly think, in pleasure also. The king said that his learned men must tell him the dream itself, or they should all be put to death as deceivers. Men are more eager to ask as to future events, than to learn the way of salvation or the path of duty; yet foreknowledge of future events increases anxiety and trouble. Those who deceived, by pretending to do what they could not do, were sentenced to death, for not being able to do what they did not pretend to.