NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S PROCLAMATION

4 King Nebuchadnezzar,

To those of every people, nation, and language, who live on the whole earth:y

May your prosperity increase.z 2 I am pleased to tell you about the miracles and wondersaa the Most High God has done for me.

3 How great are his miracles,

and how mighty his wonders!ab

His kingdom is an eternal kingdom,ac

and his dominion is from generation to generation.a

THE DREAM

4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.b 5 I had a dream, and it frightened me; while in my bed, the images and visions in my mind alarmed me.c 6 So I issued a decreed to bring all the wise men of Babylon to me in order that they might make the dream’s interpretation known to me.e 7 When the magicians, mediums, Chaldeans, and diviners came in, I told them the dream, but they could not make its interpretation known to me.f

8 Finally Daniel, named Belteshazzarg after the name of my god—and a spirit of the holy gods is in himh—came before me. I told him the dream: 9 “Belteshazzar, head of the magicians, because I know that you have the spirit of the holy godsi and that no mystery puzzles you,j explain to me the visions of my dream that I saw, and its interpretation. 10 In the visions of my mind as I was lying in bed, I saw this:

There was a tree in the middle of the earth,

and it was very tall.

11 The tree grew large and strong;

its top reached to the sky,k

and it was visible to the ends of theA earth.

12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant,

and on it was food for all.l

Wild animals found shelter under it,

the birds of the skym lived in its branches,

and every creature was fed from it.n

13 “As I was lying in my bed, I also saw in the visions of my mind a watcher, a holy one,B,o coming down from heaven.p 14 He called out loudly:

Cut down the tree and chop off its branches;

strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit.

Let the animals flee from under it,

and the birds from its branches.q

15 But leave the stump with its roots in the groundr

and with a band of iron and bronze around it

in the tender grass of the field.

Let him be drenched with dew from the sky

and share the plants of the earths

with the animals.

16 Let his mind be changed from that of a human,

and let him be given the mind of an animal

for seven periods of time.C,D,t