Daniel 4:1-18

The King Acknowledges God

1 Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that live in all the earth: "May your ¹peace abound!

2 "It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the ²Most High God has done for me.

3 "How great are His ³signs And how mighty are His wonders! His ⁴kingdom is an everlasting kingdom And His dominion is from generation to generation.

The Vision of a Great Tree

4 "I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and ⁵flourishing in my palace.

5 "I saw a ⁶dream and it made me fearful; and these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the ⁷visions in my mind kept alarming me.

6 "So I gave orders to ⁸bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

7 "Then the ⁹magicians, the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners came in and I related the dream to them, but they could not make its ¹⁰interpretation known to me.

8 "But finally Daniel came in before me, whose name is ¹¹Belteshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is ¹²a spirit of the holy gods; and I related the dream to him, saying,

9 'O Belteshazzar, ¹³chief of the magicians, since I know that ¹⁴a spirit of the holy gods is in you and ¹⁵no * mystery baffles you, ¹⁶tell me the visions of my dream which I have seen, along with its interpretation.

10 'Now these were the ¹⁷visions in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a ¹⁸tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great.

11 'The tree grew large and became strong And its height ¹⁹reached to the sky, And it was visible to the end of the whole earth.

12 'Its foliage was ²⁰beautiful and its fruit abundant, And in it was food for all. The ²¹beasts of the field found ²²shade under it, And the ²³birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, And all living creatures fed themselves from it.

13 'I was looking in the ²⁴visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, ²⁵an angelic watcher, a ²⁶holy one, descended from heaven.

14 'He shouted out and spoke as follows: "²⁷Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit; Let the ²⁸beasts flee from under it And the birds from its branches.

15 "Yet ²⁹leave the stump with its roots in the ground, 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 mind be changed from that of a man And let a beast's mind be given to him, And let ³⁰seven periods of time pass over him.

17 "This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers And the decision is a command of the holy ones, In order * that the living may ³¹know That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, And ³²bestows it on whom * He wishes And sets over it the ³³lowliest of men."

18 'This is the dream which I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, tell me its interpretation, inasmuch * * as none * of the ³⁴wise men of my kingdom is able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for a ³⁵spirit of the holy gods is in you.'

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Daniel 4:1-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 4

This chapter was written by Nebuchadnezzar himself; and was either taken out of his archives, or given by him to Daniel, who under divine inspiration inserted it into this work of his; and a very useful instruction it contains, showing the sovereignty of God over the greatest kings and potentates of the earth, and this acknowledged by one of the proudest monarchs that ever lived upon it. It begins with a preface, saluting all nations, and declaring the greatness and power of God, Da 4:1-3 then follows the narrative of a dream the king dreamed, which troubled him; upon which he called for his wise men to interpret it, but in vain; at length he told it to Daniel, Da 4:4-9: the dream itself; which being told, astonished Daniel, the king being so much interested in it, Da 4:10-19, the interpretation of it, with Daniel's advice upon it, is in Da 4:20-27 the fulfilment of it, time and occasion thereof, Da 4:28-33. Nebuchadnezzar's restoration to his reason and kingdom, for which he praises God, Da 4:34-37.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 35

1. Ezra 4:17; Daniel 6:25
2. Daniel 3:26; Daniel 4:17, 24, 25, 32, 34
3. Psalms 77:19; Psalms 105:27; Isaiah 25:1; Daniel 6:27
4. Daniel 2:44; Daniel 4:34; Daniel 6:26
5. Psalms 30:6; Isaiah 47:7, 8
6. Daniel 2:3
7. Daniel 2:1, 28; Daniel 4:10, 13
8. Genesis 41:8; Daniel 2:2
9. Genesis 41:8; Daniel 2:10, 27; Daniel 5:7
10. Isaiah 44:25; Jeremiah 27:9, 10; Daniel 2:7
11. Daniel 1:7; Daniel 2:26; Daniel 5:12
12. Daniel 4:9, 18; Daniel 5:11, 14
13. Daniel 1:20; Daniel 2:48; Daniel 5:11
14. Genesis 41:38; Daniel 4:8
15. Ezekiel 28:3; Daniel 2:47
16. Genesis 41:15; Daniel 2:4, 5
17. Daniel 4:5
18. Ezekiel 31:3, 6
19. Deuteronomy 9:1; Daniel 4:21, 22
20. Ezekiel 31:7
21. Jeremiah 27:6; Ezekiel 31:6
22. Lamentations 4:20
23. Ezekiel 17:23; Matthew 13:32; Luke 13:19
24. Daniel 7:1
25. Daniel 4:17, 23
26. Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalms 89:7; Daniel 8:13
27. Ezekiel 31:10-14; Daniel 4:23; Matthew 3:10; Matthew 7:19; Luke 13:7-9
28. Ezekiel 31:12, 13; Daniel 4:12
29. Job 14:7-9
30. Dan 4:23, 25, 32
31. Psalms 9:16; Psalms 83:18; Daniel 2:21; Daniel 5:21
32. Jeremiah 27:5-7; Daniel 4:25; Daniel 5:18, 19
33. 1 Samuel 2:8; Daniel 11:21
34. Genesis 41:8, 15; Daniel 4:7; Daniel 5:8, 15
35. Daniel 4:8, 9

Footnotes 19

[a]. Ch 3:31 in Aram
[b]. Lit "tongue"
[c]. Or "welfare" or "prosperity"
[d]. Ch 4:1 in Aram
[e]. Lit "of my head"
[f]. Or "soothsayer priests," and so throughout the ch
[g]. Or "master astrologers"
[h]. Lit "before"
[i]. Or possibly "the Spirit of the holy God," and so throughout the ch
[j]. Lit "before"
[k]. Lit "of my head"
[l]. Or "land," and so throughout the ch
[m]. Lit "flesh"
[n]. Lit "of my head"
[o]. Lit "of"
[p]. Lit "his portion be with"
[q]. Lit "heart"
[r]. Lit "heart"
[s]. I.e. years