A Dream Forgotten?

2:5 The king replied to the wise men, “My decision is firm. If you do not inform me of both the dream and its interpretation, you will be dismembered and your homes reduced to rubble! (NET]

Here is the footnote for the disputed phrase:
It seems clear from what follows that Nebuchadnezzar clearly recalls the content of the dream, although obviously he does not know what to make of it. By not divulging the dream itself to the would-be interpreters, he intends to find out whether they are simply leading him on. If they can tell him the dream’s content, which he is able to verify, he then can have confidence in their interpretation, which is what eludes him. The translation “the matter is gone from me” (cf. KJV, ASV), suggesting that the king had simply forgotten the dream, is incorrect. The Aramaic word used here (אַזְדָּא, ’azda’) is probably of Persian origin; it occurs in the OT only here and in v. 8. There are two main possibilities for the meaning of the word: “the matter is promulgated by me” (see KBL 1048 s.v.) and therefore “publicly known” (cf. NRSV; F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 62-63, §189), or “the matter is irrevocable” (cf. NAB, NIV, TEV, CEV, NLT; HALOT 1808 s.v. אזד; cf. also BDB 1079 s.v.). The present translation reflects this latter option. See further E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 3.

I like the NASB95, the command from me is firm.

 

Of course, when Daniel recounted Neb's dream to him, Neb's memory coulda been awakened for him to remember it. However, he was impressed that Daniel knew the dream's content, so thus he believed God's interp of it thru Daniel.

This accomplished several things: it warned Neb of coming events if he didn't worship God, showed him that the Chaldean soothsayers' "powers" were false, and served warnings to those Chaldeans themselves to drop their "black magic".

 

Daniel 2:5 The king hath answered and said to the Chaldeans, `The thing from me is gone; if ye do not cause me to know the dream and its interpretation, pieces ye are made, and your houses are made dunghills; (Young's Literal Translation)

I believe this was a divine act of God. God took the recollection of the dream from Nebuchadnezzar to expose the ineffectiveness of the Chaldeans and to exalt Daniel. Recalling the dream and it's interpretation could only come from God.

 

If Nebuchandnezzar had forgotten his dream he would have no way of knowing if the astrologers/magicians got it right or the interpretation of it.

He commanded that the dream be told to him by others so that he would know that the interpretation of it was accurate and a true prophesy.

So no, he didn't forget his dream.