Dan 4:1-18 | ESV | STEP | King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples , nations , and languages , that dwell in all the earth : Peace be multiplied to you!

1 ^{▼▼Ch 3:31 in Aramaic} King Nebuchadnezzar to all ^bpeoples, nations, and languages, ^cthat dwell in all the earth: ^dPeace be multiplied to you! 2 It has seemed good to me to show the ^esigns and wonders that the ^fMost High God has done for me.

3 How great are ^ghis signs,
how mighty his ^hwonders!
ⁱHis kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
^jand his dominion endures from generation to generation.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Second Dream

4 ^{▼▼Ch 4:1 in Aramaic} I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. 5 I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed the fancies and ^lthe visions of my head alarmed me. 6 So ^mI made a decree that ⁿall the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. 7 Then ^othe magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream, but ^pthey could not make known to me its interpretation. 8 At last Daniel came in before me—he who was named ^qBelteshazzar after the name of my god, and in whom is ^rthe spirit of the holy gods ^{▼▼Or Spirit of the holy God; also verses 9, 18}—and I told him the dream, saying, 9 “O Belteshazzar, ^tchief of the magicians, because I know that ^uthe spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no ^vmystery is too difficult for you, tell me ^wthe visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation. 10 ^xThe visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and ^ybehold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. 11 ^zThe tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. 12 ^aaIts leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. ^abThe beasts of the field found shade under it, and ^acthe birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.

13 “I saw in ^adthe visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, ^aea watcher, ^afa holy one, came down from heaven. 14 He ^agproclaimed aloud and said thus: ^ah‘Chop down the tree and ^ailop off its branches, ^ajstrip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. ^akLet the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed from a man’s, and let a beast’s mind be given to him; ^aland let seven periods of time ^ampass over him. 17 The sentence is by the decree of ^anthe watchers, the decision by the word of ^aothe holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High ^aprules the kingdom of men ^aqand gives it to whom he will and ^arsets over it the lowliest of men.’ 18 This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. And you, O ^asBelteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because ^atall the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for ^authe spirit of the holy gods is in you.”