Chapter 37
1 In order, then, that the Chaldeans might not by some contrivance deceive the king with words of error, Nebuchadnezzar, stung to the heart, said to them: “In truth I know that you are buying time, since you see that the matter has departed from me. If, then, you do not declare the dream to me, I know that you have agreed to speak a false and perverse word before me, until the time should pass.” The Chaldeans answered the king, saying: “There is no man on earth who will be able to make known the king’s matter, since no great king or ruler asks such a thing of an enchanter, magician, sorcerer, or Chaldean; for the word the king asks is hard, and there is no other who will declare it before the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with any flesh.”
2 When these things had been said, the king in anger commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be put to death. And the decree went forth, and the wise men were being slain.