Daniel Chapter 4
Nebuchadnezzar Praises God
1 King Nebuchadnezzar to the peoples, nations, and language groups that live all over the empire:
“Peace and prosperity!
2 It has seemed good to me to tell about the signs and wonders the Most High God has done for me.
3 How great his signs,
how amazing his wonders!
His kingdom’s eternal,
his dominion’s forever!
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream About a Tree
4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house,
living in prosperity in my palace.
Dan 4:1-4
5 A dream terrified me;
fantasies and visions alarmed me.
6 So I ordered the wise men in Babylon
to come and explain what the dream meant.
7 The magicians, conjurers, astrologers, and fortunetellers came.
I told them the dream,
but they couldn’t interpret it.
8 But finally Daniel (named Belteshazzar after my god),
who has the spirit of the holy gods, came in,
and I told him the dream,
9 ‘Belteshazzar, chief magician,
since I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you
and no mystery baffles you,
tell me what I was looking at
and what it means.
Dan 4:5-9
10 I was in bed
when I saw a really tall tree in the middle of the country.
11 It had grown tall and strong,
as high as the sky,
and visible all over the world.
12 Its leaves were beautiful,
its fruit abundant,
enough for everyone.
Animals in the pasture lived in its shade;
birds in the sky roosted in it;
everyone fed themselves from it.
Dan 4:10-12
13As I kept watching, an angel watcher, a holy one,
came down from the sky 14 and shouted,
“Chop it down and cut off its limbs;
strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit.
Let the animals run from under it
and the birds fly from its branches.
15 But leave the stump with its roots in the ground,
with an iron-bronze band around it
in the new grass of the pasture.
Let him be wet with the dew from the sky
and share the grass with the animals.
16 Let his mind change from a man’s to an animal’s mind
for seven periods of time.
17 This sentence is by the angel watchers’ decree
a command from the holy ones
so the living can know
that it’s the Most High who rules the human realm,
gives it to the one his chooses,
and sets over it the lowliest of men.”
Dan 4:13-17
18 That’s the dream I had. Tell me what it means, Belteshazzar. None of the wise men in my kingdom can do it. You can; you have the spirit of the holy gods in you.’
Daniel Interprets the Second Dream
19 Daniel was distressed for a while as his thoughts about the meaning of the dream alarmed him.
The king said, ‘Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or its meaning alarm you.’
Belteshazzar answered,
‘If only the dream applied to those who hate you,
and its meaning applied to your enemies, my lord!
20The tree you saw that grew tall and strong,
as high as the sky
and visible all over the world,
21 whose leaves were beautiful
and its fruit abundant,
enough for everybody,
that animals in the pasture lived under,
whose branches birds roosted in—
22that’s you, O King.
You’ve grown tall and strong;
your majesty has become great
and reached the sky;
you exercise dominion everywhere.
Dan 4:18-22
23The angel watcher you saw,
a holy one, came down from the sky and shouted,
“Chop down the tree and destroy it;
but leave the stump with its roots in the ground
with an iron-bronze band around it
in the new grass in the pasture.
Let him be wet with the dew from the sky
and share grass with wild animals
till seven periods of time pass.”
24That means it’s a decree by the Most High
that will happen to you:
25 you’ll be driven from society
and live with the animals in the pasture.
You’ll eat grass like a cow
and be wet with the dew from the sky.
Seven periods of time will pass
till you recognize
that it’s the Most High that rules the human realm
and gives it to the one he chooses.
Dan 4:23-25
26The stump with its roots means
you’ll receive your empire back
after you recognize that heaven rules.
27So, O King, may my advice please you:
break away now from your sins by doing good,
from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor,
in case your prosperity can continue.”
Dan 4:26-27
The Dream’s Fulfillment
28 “That all happened to Nebuchadnezzar. 29 A year later, he was walking on his palace roof in Babylon 30 an saying, ‘Isn’t this Babylon the Great that I’ve built as a royal residence by my power and splendor?’ 31 While he was still saying it, a voice from heaven said, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, you’ve lost your sovereignty.
32 You’ll be driven from society
and live with the animals in the pasture.
You’ll eat grass like a cow,
for seven periods of time
till you recognize
that it’s the Most High that rules the human realm
and gives it to the one he chooses.’
33At once it happened.
He was driven from society
and began to eat grass like a cow.
His body was wet from dew
till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers
and his nails like birds’ claws.
Dan 4:28-33
Nebuchadnezzar Restored
34 “But when that was past, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to the sky, my sanity came back, and I praised and honored the Most High who lives forever.
His rule is everlasting;
his kingdom continues to all generations.
35 All people on earth amount to nothing,
but he does what he decides in the host of heaven
and among people on earth.
Nobody can shove his hand away
or say, ‘What are you doing?’
36 “At the same time as my sanity returned,
my majesty and splendor came back to me
for the glory of my empire;
my advisors and nobles began to trust me,
so I was secure again in my sovereignty
and became greater than before.
37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise, lift up, and honor the King of heaven;
because everything he does is true,
his ways are just,
and he can humble the arrogant.”
Dan 4:34-37