Does the expression—"The thing is gone from me" (Dan. 2:5, 8)—have reference to the dream, or to the command? F. E. N. It seems clear to us that it has reference to the command, from the following reasons: (1) The word translated "thing" is the Aramaic word millaw, which comes from malol, "to speak, or say." It is rendered "thing" in Dan. 2:5, 11, 15, 17; 4:33; 5:15, 26. It is rendered "matter" in Dan. 2:10 and 7:1. It is rendered "word" in Dan. 3:28 and 4:31. It is rendered "commandment" in Dan. 3:22. (2) It is most reasonable to suppose that the king knew of the equivocal answers of the wise men; he knew that, if he should tell the dream, it would be interpreted in such a way that he would not really know whether the interpretation was true or not; and to forestall this he decided on his course of action when he called the wise men. The word had gone forth from the king before the wise men had spoken. (3) The uses of the same original word, millaw, elsewhere indicate that this is its meaning. For instance, we read in Dan. 2:15 that Arioch "made the thing [millaw, or decree of the king] known unto Daniel;" in verse 17 that Daniel "made the thing [millaw, word of the king] known" to his companions. In Dan. 3:22 we have a similar command of the king, and it is designated by millaw, "commandment" in our version. And so, in verse 28, the king says that God had "changed the king's word" (millaw). See elsewhere as noted above. (4) It does not seem at all reasonable that if the king had emphatically said "the dream has gone from me," the wise men would have dared to say to the imperial ruler, "Tell us the dream." They would have been laying the king in a lie, and as much as saying, "You can tell us the dream if you wish." But they understood it to mean the word has gone forth. (5) The American Standard Revision gives as the marginal reading of Dan. 2:5, "The word is gone forth from me," and of verse 8, "Ye see the word is gone forth from me." Boothroyd, the eminent Hebrew scholar, renders verse 5, "This is what I have decreed," and verse 8, "Ye perceive what I have decreed." The Septuagint in Dan. 2:5 has logos, "word." Leeser's Jewish translation renders, "The decree is firmly resolved on by me." So also in verse 8. In this light, added strength and wisdom is revealed in Nebuchadnezzar's character, and not less is the glory and wisdom of God revealed in His servants.