Daniel 4:1-11

1 `Nebuchadnezzar the king to all peoples, nations, and languages, who are dwelling in all the earth: Your peace be great!

2 The signs and wonders that God Most High hath done with me, it is good before me to shew.

3 His signs how great! and His wonders how mighty! His kingdom [is] a kingdom age-during, and His rule [is] with generation and generation.

4 `I, Nebuchadnezzar, have been at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace:

5 a dream I have seen, and it maketh me afraid, and the conceptions on my bed, and the visions of my head, do trouble me.

6 And by me a decree is made, to cause all the wise men of Babylon to come up before me, that the interpretation of the dream they may cause me to know.

7 Then coming up are the scribes, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and the dream I have told before them, and its interpretation they are not making known to me.

8 And at last come up before me hath Daniel, whose name [is] Belteshazzar -- according to the name of my god -- and in whom [is] the spirit of the holy gods, and the dream before him I have told:

9 `O Belteshazzar, master of the scribes, as I have known that the spirit of the holy gods [is] in thee, and no secret doth press thee, the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation, tell.

10 As to the visions of my head on my bed, I was looking, and lo, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height [is] great:

11 become great hath the tree, yea, strong, and its height doth reach to the heavens, and its vision to the end of the whole land;

Daniel 4:1-11 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.