Daniel 4:23

23 And [inasmuch] that the king saw [the] watcher, a holy [one] coming down from heaven and he said, "Cut down the tree and destroy it, but the stump of its root in the earth leave with a band of iron and bronze in the grass of the field, and let it be watered with the dew of heaven and [let] his lot [be] with [the] animals of the field {until seven times have passed over him}."

Daniel 4:23 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 4:23

And whereas the king saw a watcher, and an Holy One
Here is related another part of the dream, which respects the cutting down of the tree, or the miserable condition the king should be brought into; see ( Daniel 4:13-16 ) .

Daniel 4:23 In-Context

21 and its foliage [was] beautiful and its fruit abundant, and [so there was] provision for all in it, [and] the animals of the field lived under it and in its branches nest [the] birds of heaven,

22 --it is you, O king, who have grown [great] and you have grown strong, and [so] your greatness has increased and it has reached to heaven and your sovereignty to the end of the earth.

23 And [inasmuch] that the king saw [the] watcher, a holy [one] coming down from heaven and he said, "Cut down the tree and destroy it, but the stump of its root in the earth leave with a band of iron and bronze in the grass of the field, and let it be watered with the dew of heaven and [let] his lot [be] with [the] animals of the field {until seven times have passed over him}."

24 This [is] the explanation, O king, and it [is] a decree of the Most High that has come upon my lord the king:

25 you will be driven away {from human society} and {you will dwell} with the animals of the field, and you will be caused to graze grass like the oxen {yourself}, and you will be watered with the dew of heaven, and seven [periods of] time will pass over you until that you have acknowledged that the Most High [is] sovereign over the kingdom of humankind, and {to whom he wills} he gives it.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "the sky"
• [b] Literally "until that seven times [they] pass over him"