Daniel 5:8

Schlachter Bibel

Da kamen alle Weisen des Königs herauf, aber sie konnten weder die Schrift lesen noch ihre Bedeutung dem König erklären.

Parallel Translations

Lutherbible (1912)
Da wurden alle Weisen des Königs hereingebracht; aber sie konnten weder die Schrift lesen noch die Deutung dem König anzeigen.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

but: Because, probably, it was written in the ancient Hebrew or Samaritan character. Daniel 2:27, Daniel 4:7, Genesis 41:8, Isaiah 47:9, Isaiah 47:12-15

Reciprocal: Exodus 8:18 - they could Isaiah 41:28 - I beheld Isaiah 47:13 - Let now Jeremiah 50:35 - her wise men Daniel 1:20 - the magicians Daniel 2:4 - tell Daniel 4:18 - forasmuch Daniel 5:5 - wrote Daniel 5:15 - General Colossians 2:14 - the handwriting

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then came in all the king's wise men,.... The whole college of them, the persons before described; over whom, in Nebuchadnezzar's time, Daniel was the chief of the governors, Daniel 2:48, these came in readily, in hope of getting both riches and honour:

but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof; for if they could not do the former, it must be impossible to do the latter; of the reason of which, various are the conjectures p: as that, though these words were written in Chaldee, yet in characters, as the Samaritan or Phoenician, they did not understand; or were written without points, and so they knew not which were the proper ones to put to them; or they were written according to the position of the letters of the alphabet, called "athbash", of which

Daniel 2:48- :, or the words were placed so as to be read backward, or else downward, and not straightforward; or they were all in one word; or only the initial letters of words; but the true reason was, that it was so ordained by the Lord, that they should not be able to read and interpret them; this being reserved for another man, Daniel, that he might have the honour, and God the glory.

p Vid. Jac. de Clerice Dissertat. de Epulo Belshazzar, in Thesaur. Theolog. Philol. vol. 1. p. 885.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then came in all the king’s wise men - The classes above referred to, Daniel 5:7.

But they could not read the writing - The character was an unknown character to them. It may have been a character which was not found in any language, and which made the power of Daniel to read it the more remarkable, or it may have been, as suggested in the notes at Daniel 5:7, a foreign character with which they had no acquaintance, though familiar to Daniel.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Daniel 5:8. They could not read the writing — Because it was in the pure Hebrew, not the Chaldean character. See below.