Daniel asked for time and urged his friends to seek mercy from God concerning the mystery. The secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision, and he blessed God for revealing it. Daniel 2:17–23
In Daniel 2:14–23 Daniel responds calmly to an emergency execution order against Babylon’s wise men. He asks why the decision is so urgent, then requests time from the king to provide the meaning of the dream. Daniel immediately gathers his friends to pray for mercy from the God of heaven so they will not be killed. This scene sits inside the larger story of Nebuchadnezzar’s troubling dream and his demand that his experts both recount it and explain it (2:1–13). After the wise men fail, a death order goes out, which creates the crisis Daniel steps into (2:12–13).
This scene presents Daniel as a court official facing a lethal decree who responds with measured speech (“counsel and prudence”) and careful questions (verses 14–15). He does not treat the crisis as only political; he immediately turns to God with others (verses 17–18).
A common mistake is to turn the wording into a slogan. The better reading keeps the phrase tied to the passage, the speaker, and the problem the book is addressing.
Start with Daniel 2:17-23, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
17Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
18that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his companions should nor perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
19Then was the secret revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
20Daniel answered, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; for wisdom and might are his.
21He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings, and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding;
22he reveals the deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
23I thank you, and praise you, you God of my fathers, who have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we desired of you; for you have made known to us the king`s matter.