Daniel 4:10-12

4:10 Here are the visions of my mind ¹  while I was on my bed.

While I was watching,

there was a tree in the middle of the land. ² 

It was enormously tall. ³ 

4:11 The tree grew large and strong.

Its top reached far into the sky;

it could be seen ⁴  from the borders of all the land. ⁵ 

4:12 Its foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful;

on it there was food enough for all.

Under it the wild animals ⁶  used to seek shade,

and in its branches the birds of the sky used to nest.

All creatures ⁷  used to feed themselves from it.

Daniel 4:19-22

Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

4:19 Then Daniel (whose name is also Belteshazzar) was upset for a brief time; ⁸  his thoughts were alarming him. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream and its interpretation alarm you.” But Belteshazzar replied, “Sir, ⁹  if only the dream were for your enemies and its interpretation applied to your adversaries! 4:20 The tree that you saw that grew large and strong, whose top reached to the sky, and which could be seen ¹⁰  in all the land, 4:21 whose foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful, and from which there was food available for all, under whose branches wild animals ¹¹  used to live, and in whose branches birds of the sky used to nest – 4:22 it is you, ¹²  O king! For you have become great and strong. Your greatness is such that it reaches to heaven, and your authority to the ends of the earth.

[4:10]  ¹ tc The LXX lacks the first two words (Aram “the visions of my head”) of the Aramaic text.

[4:10]  ² tn Instead of “in the middle of the land,” some English versions render this phrase “a tree at the center of the earth” (NRSV); NAB, CEV “of the world”; NLT “in the middle of the earth.” The Hebrew phrase can have either meaning.

[4:10]  ³ tn Aram “its height was great.”

[4:11]  ⁴ tn Aram “its sight.” So also v. 17.

[4:11]  ⁵ tn Or “to the end of all the earth” (so KJV, ASV); NCV, CEV “from anywhere on earth.”

[4:12]  ⁶ tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”

[4:12]  ⁷ tn Aram “all flesh.”

[4:19]  ⁸ tn Aram “about one hour.” The expression refers idiomatically to a brief period of time of undetermined length.

[4:19]  ⁹ tn Aram “my lord.”

[4:20]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “its sight.”

[4:21]  ¹¹ tn Aram “the beasts of the field” (also in vv. 23, 25, 32).

[4:22]  ¹² sn Much of modern scholarship views this chapter as a distortion of traditions that were originally associated with Nabonidus rather than with Nebuchadnezzar. A Qumran text, the Prayer of Nabonidus, is often cited for parallels to these events.