Nebuchadnezzar Declares the Most High God
Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue that inhabit all the earth: “May your apeace abound! 2 It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the aMost High God has done for me.
3 How great are His asigns,
And how strong are His wonders!
His bkingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And His dominion is from generation to generation.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream of a Great Tree
4 “I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and aflourishing in my palace. 5 I saw a adream, and it made me fearful; and these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the bvisions in my head kept alarming me. 6 So I gave a decree to abring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. 7 Then the amagicians, the conjurers, the Chaldeans, and the diviners came in, and I said the dream to them, but they could not make its binterpretation known to me. 8 But at last Daniel came in before me, whose name is aBelteshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is ba spirit of the holy gods; and I said the dream to him: 9 ‘O Belteshazzar, achief of the magicians, since I know that ba spirit of the holy gods is in you, and cno mystery is difficult for you, dsay to me the visions of my dream which I have seen, along with its interpretation.
10 ‘Now these were the avisions in my head as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a btree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great.
11 The tree grew large and became strong,
And its height areached to the sky,
And it was visible to the end of the whole earth.
12 Its foliage was abeautiful and its fruit abundant,
And in it was food for all.
The bbeasts of the field found cshade under it,
And the dbirds of the sky inhabited its branches,
And all flesh fed itself from it.
13 ‘I was looking in the avisions in my head as I lay on my bed, and behold, ba watcher, a choly one, descended from heaven.
14 He called out loudly and said thus:
“aChop down the tree and cut off its branches,
Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit;
Let the bbeasts flee from under it
And the birds from its branches.
15 Yet aleave the stump with its roots in the earth,
But with a band of iron and bronze around it
In the new grass of the field;
And let him be drenched with the dew of heaven,
And let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth.
16 Let his heart be changed from that of a man,
And let the heart of a beast be given to him,
And let aseven periods of time pass over him.
17 This edict is by the resolution of the watchers,
And the decision is a command of the holy ones,
In order that the living may aknow
That the Most High is the powerful ruler over the kingdom of mankind
And bgives it to whom He wishes
And sets up over it the clowliest of men.”
18 This is the dream which I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, say to me its interpretation, inasmuch as none of the awise men of my kingdom is able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for a bspirit of the holy gods is in you.’