Daniel 2:27

in the presence of before (R.V.), as Daniel 2:9.

demanded simply asked, which is all that -demand" formerly expressed. -Like Fr. demander, to ask, simply; not as now in the stronger sense of "to ask with authority, or as a right," " (W. A. Wright, Bible Word-book, s.v.). So Exodus 5:14; 2 Samuel 11:7; Job 38:3. -Demand" in the modern sense would suit these passages; but the Hebrew word used is the one that ordinarily means -ask."

can neither wise men, enchanters (Daniel 2:2), magicians, nor determiners (of fates) declare unto the king The terms are all indefinite in the original. -Determiners" (also Daniel 4:4; Daniel 5:7; Daniel 5:11), viz. of future destinies, whether by observation of the heavens (Isaiah 47:13), or by other means. The Babylonians were famed for their astrology, and in classical times the idea of astrologer was that which was almost entirely associated with the term -Chaldaean" (cf. above, p. 13). The verb (strictly, to cut), in the general sense of decide, decree, occurs in the Targums and in Syriac, and once also in the Aramaizing idiom of Job (Job 22:28); cf. the cognate subst., Daniel 4:14; Daniel 4:21. In this particular application, however, it is at present known only in the Biblical Aramaic.