All the king’s wise men: the more general word for the royal advisors is used here as in 2.12 and other places. Note that Good News Translation omits the detail all, but this should be retained in the translation.

Came in: since the king was already speaking to the royal advisors—or at least some of them—in the previous verse, this presents logical difficulties. One commentary notes that the participial force of the verb here gives the idea “were coming in” and indicates that the arrival of the advisors happened over a period of several hours. Good News Translation takes it to mean that these men “came forward” or drew closer to the king. New Jerusalem Bible carries a similar meaning. But New American Bible has “though all the king’s wise men came in,” meaning that even after the arrival of the last of the advisors there was no solution to the problem. This is probably the best interpretation. Some may wish to translate “When all the royal advisors had arrived” or “After all of the king’s advisors had finished coming in.”

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René & Ellington, John. A Handbook on Daniel. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .