Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about a tree

4 Several years after Nebuchadnezzar started to rule, he sent this message to the people of every nation and people-group and all language groups in his empire. He wrote,

“I wish/hope that everything is going very well with you!

2 I want you to know about all the wonderful miracles [DOU] that the Supreme God has performed for me.

3 He performs great miracles,

and does wonderful things.

His kingdom will last forever;

his rule over people will never end.

4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living in my palace. I was living luxuriantly, and everything was going very well for me. 5 But one night I had a dream that caused me to be very afraid. I saw visions that terrified me as I lay on my bed. 6 So I summoned all the wise men in Babylon, in order that they would come and tell me what it meant. 7 All the men who worked magic, the fortune-tellers, the men who worked sorcery, and men who studied the stars came to me. I told them what I had dreamed, but they could not tell me what it meant. 8 Finally, Daniel came to me, and I decided to tell him what I had dreamed. One of my officials had given him a new name, Belteshazzar, to honor my own god. I knew that the spirit of the holy gods was in him.

9 So, using the name that had been given to him, I said, ‘Belteshazzar, you are the most important of all my fortune-tellers. I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and that you can reveal all mysteries. There is none that is too difficult for you. So, tell me what my dream means. 10 This is what I dreamed while I was lying on my bed: I saw a large tree growing in the middle of the land. 11 The tree was very strong and had grown very tall; it seemed that its top reached up to the sky, with the result that everyone in the world [HYP] could see it. 12 It had beautiful leaves, and it had produced a lot of fruit for people to eat. Wild animals rested in the shade of that tree, and birds built nests in its branches. All the living creatures everywhere in the world got food from that tree.

13 While I was still lying on my bed, I saw another vision. In the vision I saw a holy angel coming down from heaven. 14 The angel shouted, “Cut down the tree, and cut off its branches! Strip/Shake off all of its leaves, and scatter its fruit. Chase away the animals that are lying in the shade of the tree, and the birds that are in its branches. 15 But leave the stump of the tree and its roots in the ground. Fasten a band of iron and bronze around the stump, and allow it to stay there with grass around it.”

16 That tree seems to have represented a man, because the angel also said, “Cause that man to live out in the fields among the animals and plants. Cause the dew from the sky to make his body damp each morning. Do not allow him to continue to have a mind like humans; instead, cause him to have a mind like animals have, for seven years.

17 The holy angels have decided what must happen. They want to inform everyone that the Supreme God rules over all the kingdoms in this world. He is the one who chooses who will rule these kingdoms. He sometimes allows very unimportant people to become rulers.”

18 Belteshazzar, that is what I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw in my dream. Now tell me what the dream means. No one else can tell me. I asked all the very wise men in my kingdom to tell me what it means, but they were unable to do that. But you can tell me, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”