Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.
Then spake the Chaldeans. Here begins the Chaldee portion of Daniel, which continues to the end of Daniel 7:1-28. In it the course, character, and crisis of the Gentile power are treated of; whereas in the other parts, which are in Hebrew, the things treated of apply more particularly to the Jews and Jerusalem.
In Syriac - the Aramean-Chaldee, the vernacular tongue of the king and his court; the prophet, by mentioning it here, hints at the reason of his own adoption of it from this point.
O king, live forever - a formula in addressing kings, like our 'Long live the king!' Compare 1 Kings 1:31, "Bathsheba said, Let my lord king David live forever."