DANIEL 2:5
 

The king answered the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me! And the decree goes forth from me and I say it with all emphasis: if you do not make known to me the dream with its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made a dunghill! [Daniel 2:5 AMPC]
 

The king said to them, “I have made up my mind that you must tell me the dream and then tell me what it means. If you can't, I'll have you torn limb from limb and make your houses a pile of ruins. [Daniel 2:5 GNT]

In the top Bible verse above, Nebuchadnezzar the king made a decree that either those priests and senators of the gods and wisdoms of Babylon tell him the secret dream troubling his spirit and the interpretation thereof, or they shall be cut into pieces together with their houses as dunghill. That was a judgment upon those priests and ministers: Because much was given to the priests and ministers, and so much was expected of them.
 

Even so, when God said that "My people shall be destroyed, or shall be rejected, for lack of knowledge," He was basically referring to the priests, ministers, pastors, prophets, etc. So as Nebuchadnezzar the king sounded in the top Bible verse above because of knowledge, so the Lord sounded in this Bible reference below for knowledge: As it is written,
 

[Hosea 4:5‭-‬9 ICB] — You will be ruined one of these days. And your prophets will be ruined with you one of these nights. I will also destroy your mother, the nation of Israel. My people will be destroyed because they have no knowledge. You priests have refused to learn. So I will refuse to let you be priests to Me. You have forgotten the teachings of your God. So I will reject your children. The more priests there are, the more they sin against Me. I will take away their honor and give them nothing but shame. The priests live off the sin offerings of the people. So they want the people to sin more and more. The priests are as wrong as the people. I will punish them both for what they have done. I will repay them for the wrong they have done.

This king demanded both "Word of Knowledge" and "Prophecy" from the Chaldeans of his wise men and senators, with a decreed penalty of reducing both them and their houses into piecesed rubble if they fail to deliver what he demanded of them.
 

Both are related except that the "Word of Knowledge" tells the secrets or mysteries in the past or present, while on the other hand "Prophecy" focuses on telling the secrets or mysteries in the future. When you tell a man to prophesy or to make a guess of something that happened but hidden to him, that prophesying or guessing is assuming the "Word of Knowledge." For instance, they blindfolded the Lord Jesus Christ, one of them struck Him; and they asked Him, prophesy (guess) who struck You.
 

[Luke 22:64] — "And when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face, and asked Him, saying, "Prophesy, who is it that smote you?"
 

That "Prophesy" used in this immediate bible reference is like "To Guess Accurately" or "To give a Word of Knowledge."
 

Now, there are prophets who are tilted towards knowledge or towards knowing secrets/mysteries of things that already happened. They know things that have been or being: They know Today and Yesterday. And there are prophets who know Tomorrow, knowing secrets/mysteries of things that are yet to come.
 

But which is easier to tell between "Telling Today/Yesterday" and "Telling Tomorrow?" Why should those men claim to tell the interpretation of the dream but could not narrate or tell the dream? Why do we have so much prophets who claim to know or see what will happen in the future, but they do not know what happens in secrets in present or past?
 

The Word of Knowledge is true verification of the Prophecy to come. For instance, the Lord Jesus Christ shared Word of Knowledge twice about the secrets of Nathaniel: One He judged Nathaniel and told him there was no falsehood or guile in him, and that he was a "True Israelite indeed." Being referred to as true Israelite then is like being referred to as a "True Christian" today; many others were Israelites or Christians, but they are fake or false because there are ungodly things in them. Secondly, He shared the vision or dream of seeing Nathaniel under a tree before Phillips met and called him. Then when Nathaniel heard that, he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and was converted. Then after he was converted into Jesus Christ religion or Christianity from his Jewish religion wherein he was blameless or without guile, Jesus Christ then gave him futuristic prophecy. You may skip this Bible reference:
 

[John 1:47-51] — "When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.” “How do You know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” “Rabbi,” Nathanael answered, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus said to him, “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” Then He declared, “Truly, truly, I tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”"
 

Now notice that the Lord did not begin prophesying the future to Nathaniel when Nathaniel was yet to be converted into Christianity; rather He prophesied the past and present biography or secrets of Nathaniel by the Word of Knowledge. That brought conviction faster upon Nathaniel, than if the Lord had prophesied the future to him. Recall how the Lord also prophesied the future first to the Samaritan woman concerning the water He shall give her, and it did not have much impact on her conviction and conversion. But as soon as He prophesied by telling her all she did or her secret biography concerning her relationships with men in her life as in how many body-counts she had in the Word of Knowledge, that was it.
 

When Paul wrote about "Better to prophesy than to speak with tongues" especially when you are before unbelievers: He was basically referring to prophesying past or present secrets of those unbelievers as in "Word of Knowledge" and not just prophesying the future to them. Telling them their secrets is better prophecy (Word of Knowledge) in converting sinners or unbelievers, than the prophecy of forecasting future events. That was the prophecy that is better than speaking in tongues, namely, the "Word of Knowledge" or "Prophecy" that reveals one's deep secret to him beyond guessing. For speaking in tongues creates more mysteries to them, but prophesying (Word of Knowledge) reveals and interprets those secrets or mysteries, making it far greater than speaking in tongues.
 

[1 Corinthians 14:23‭-‬25 ICB] — Suppose the whole church meets together and everyone speaks in different languages. If some people come in who are without understanding or do not believe, they will say you are crazy. But suppose everyone is prophesying and someone comes in who does not believe or is without understanding. If everyone is prophesying, his sin will be shown to him, and he will be judged by all that he hears. The secret things in his heart will be made known. So he will bow down and worship God. He will say, “Truly, God is with you.”
 

What the Chaldeans did before the king was to speak in another tongue called Syriack or Aramaic tongue, but they could not prophesy or tell the king what was the secret dream he had. Wait until Daniel came and prophesied by telling the king both his secret dream and its interpretation, and then you will see the king himself bowing down to Daniel and confessed before all saying, "Surely, your God is God of gods, and Revealer of secrets, seeing you are able to reveal these secrets," which gods of those speaking in other tongue could not reveal.