Their confession of inability, and their complaint that the king was being unfair with them, made Nebuchadnezzar very angry (cf. Genesis 40:2; Genesis 41:10; Daniel 3:13; Daniel 3:19). He gave orders to execute all the wise men in Babylon, specifically, those who were his counselors. Probably the city of Babylon is in view here, rather than the province or the whole empire (cf. Daniel 2:49; Daniel 3:1), since the king"s counselors were the targets of his wrath. Daniel and his three friends fell under the edict because they were advisers to the king ( Daniel 1:20), not because they practiced divination, which, it is safe to say, they did not. [source][source][source]