ענו - אמר הגאון: כי לא הוסיפו עתה על התשובה הראשונה רק בראשונה לנכח המלך מדברים, כדרך קום נא שבה, ועתה לשון יחיד שאינו נמצא יקום אבי. והטעם: כי פחדו לדבר לנכחו ואמרו: אין לנו מענה להשיב רק מה שהשיבונו למלך. [Daniel 2:7] ʿAnu tinyanut (עֲנוּ תִנְיָנוּת - They answered a second time): The Gaon [Saadia Gaon] said: that they did not add anything now beyond their first answer, except that in the first instance [Daniel 2:4] they were speaking directly to the king (l'nochach ha-melekh - לְנֹכַח הַמֶּלֶךְ), in the manner of [Jacob saying to Isaac] “Arise, now, sit” (kum na sh'vah - קוּם נָא שְׁבָה) [Genesis 27:19]. But now [they use] the third-person singular jussive form ["Let the king tell..."] which is not [so directly] addressed [to the person present], like [Esau saying of Isaac] “Let my father arise” (yakum avi - יָקֻם אָבִי) [Genesis 27:31]. And the reason [according to the Gaon] is that they were afraid to speak directly to him [now], and [so] they said [in effect]: "We have no [other] response to give back except what we [already] responded to the king." [The shift to a more indirect grammatical form reflects their fear and inability to offer a different answer.]