Nebuchadnezzar refuses to tell his dream. The scholars need to discover for themselves what his dream was about and then come up with the explanation. In this way he seeks assurance for himself that the explanation will actually be the correct explanation.
Within the culture and religion of the time, is this an unreasonable demand by the king? It is not all that unreasonable, because the people being questioned believe that dreams come from the gods. These scholars all claim in their own way that they are in touch with the gods and that it is from the gods that they get their wisdom. If this is true, then surely they should be able to find out what Nebuchadnezzar has dreamed. Surely the gods must then be able to tell them.
Nebuchadnezzar insists on what he says. When the wise men prove unable to tell the dream, the king makes it clear that this will have profound consequences for them. They will be killed and their homes will be razed to the ground.
5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.