Daniel 4

KJV · Chapter 4/12

¹Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.

²I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me.

³How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.

⁴I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace:

⁵I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

⁶Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream.

⁷Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.

⁸But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying,

⁹O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof.

¹⁰Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great.

¹¹The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth:

¹²The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.

¹³I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;

¹⁴He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches:

¹⁵Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth:

¹⁶Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.

¹⁷This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

¹⁸This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation: but thou art able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee.

¹⁹Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake, and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies.

²⁰The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth;

²¹Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation:

²²It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.

²³And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him;

²⁴This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king:

²⁵That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

²⁶And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.

²⁷Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.

²⁸All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.

²⁹At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.

³⁰The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?

³¹While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.

³²And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

³³The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.

³⁴And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

³⁵And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

³⁶At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.

³⁷Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a great tree cut down and, despite Daniel's warning for him to humble himself, his pride leads him to lose his sanity for seven years, living like an animal, until he acknowledges that God rules over all kingdoms.

Explanation

This chapter is written in the first person, as a personal testimony from King Nebuchadnezzar himself, a unique format in the Bible that documents the spiritual transformation of a powerful pagan ruler. Daniel's counsel for the king to practice justice and mercy toward the poor (v.27) shows that even a severe warning of judgment comes accompanied by a possible way out through genuine repentance. The medical condition described, in which the king believes himself to be an animal and lives as one for years, has recognized parallels in modern psychiatry to a rare condition called clinical lycanthropy, though the text attributes it directly to God's judgment. The king's final restoration, with the public acknowledgment that 'the Most High rules in the kingdom of men' (v.34-37), shows that even the most powerful can learn genuine humility.

Fun facts

Real Babylonian archaeological inscriptions show an intriguing period in which Nebuchadnezzar appears to have withdrawn from affairs of state, which some scholars see as possible indirect historical confirmation of this episode.
The condition described of believing oneself to be an animal and living accordingly, today clinically called clinical lycanthropy syndrome, is a real psychiatric condition, though rare, recognized by contemporary medicine.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Daniel 4:1The whole chapter is presented as a letter or decree written in the first person by Nebuchadnezzar himself — a rare format in the Bible, in which a pagan king tells his own experience with God.
Daniel 4:2The king chooses to publicly disclose something that could be seen as weakness, his own temporary madness, as a voluntary testimony to God’s power over him.
Daniel 4:3This declaration that God’s kingdom is ‘an everlasting kingdom’ directly contrasts with the sequence of temporary human empires described in the statue dream in chapter 2.
Daniel 4:4The description of peace and prosperity at the start serves as a deliberate contrast with the crisis about to unfold — the text marks that the fall comes precisely at the height of the king’s success.
Daniel 4:5This is the second troubling dream of Nebuchadnezzar’s recorded in the book: after the statue in chapter 2, once again he turns to the court’s wise men before finally calling Daniel.
Daniel 4:6Repeating the same procedure as in chapter 2, summoning all the wise men at once, shows that despite his earlier experience, the king still trusts the traditional methods first before turning to Daniel.
Daniel 4:7This time the king tells the wise men the whole dream, unlike in chapter 2 — yet they still cannot interpret it, showing that the problem was never just remembering the dream, but actually deciphering it.
Daniel 4:8The king explains that he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar in honor of his own god — a reminder that, even while recognizing Daniel’s power, Nebuchadnezzar still thinks within his own Babylonian religious framework.
Daniel 4:9Calling Daniel ‘master of the magicians’ confirms the post given to him at the end of chapter 2: chief over all the wise men of Babylon, including the very ones who had just failed in this chapter.
Daniel 4:10The gigantic tree cut down by order of the ‘watchers’ — heavenly beings, a kind of divine council appearing in other ancient Jewish texts — represents Nebuchadnezzar himself: great and thriving like the tree, but destined to be cut down because of his very greatness.
Daniel 4:11A tree visible ‘to the end of all the earth’ is a common poetic exaggeration for describing empires in ancient literature — the image of a power so great it becomes a landmark for the entire known world.
Daniel 4:12Describing the tree as sustaining animals and people at the same time uses a farming image common in the ancient Near East to represent a ruler who guarantees prosperity to all peoples under his rule.
Daniel 4:13‘Watcher’ and ‘holy one’ are terms that appear only in this chapter of Daniel, likely designating a heavenly being charged with observing and carrying out divine decisions, close to the angels mentioned elsewhere in the book.
Daniel 4:14The order to destroy the tree is given aloud, like a public decree — the same formal, solemn tone used in the other royal decrees scattered throughout the book of Daniel.
Daniel 4:15Leaving the stump bound ‘with a band of iron and brass’ suggests both protection and restraint: the kingdom will not be destroyed completely, but stays confined, unable to grow again until the appointed time.
Daniel 4:16‘Seven times’ is generally understood as seven years, but the text uses deliberately vague language — round numbers like this were common in ancient texts to mark a symbolic period of judgment, without necessarily being an exact count.
Daniel 4:17Saying that God can set ‘the basest of men’ in power is a strong statement about how political authority works in Daniel’s view: neither status nor human merit decides who rules.
Daniel 4:18The king publicly acknowledges, once again, Daniel’s superiority over all the other wise men — a pattern repeated at every crisis in the book, explaining why he ends up promoted so many times.
Daniel 4:19Daniel’s anguished silence for nearly an hour shows he had already grasped the dream’s bad meaning for the king himself — his hesitation to speak is a gesture of genuine reluctance, not mere protocol.
Daniel 4:20Daniel begins by repeating the description of the tree almost word for word, a device common to the book’s dream interpretations, before revealing who it actually refers to.
Daniel 4:21The repetition continues, detailing every element of the tree before the final revelation — a way of making sure the king follows the logic of the interpretation step by step.
Daniel 4:22After repeating the whole description, Daniel finally reveals the obvious thing no one had dared tell the king: the giant tree in the dream is Nebuchadnezzar himself.
Daniel 4:23Repeating the destruction as well confirms that the sentence applies equally to the king: the very tree representing his greatness will be cut down the same way seen in the dream.
Daniel 4:24Daniel makes clear that he is not inventing a punishment, only reporting a decision already made — his role is merely that of messenger for something already decreed.
Daniel 4:25‘Seven times’ probably means seven years, though the word used in the original Aramaic does not specify the unit with certainty — the number carries the sense of a complete, fixed period, more than an exact count.
Daniel 4:26Leaving the roots intact in the dream was already a sign of hope: even the harshest punishment foretold here comes with the assurance that Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom would not be lost forever.
Daniel 4:27This is the only moment in the book where Daniel gives a pagan king direct, practical advice, caring for the poor, as a possible way to delay or soften a judgment already announced.
Daniel 4:28The short, direct sentence marks the narrative’s turning point: after all the prophetic warning of the previous verses, the text flatly confirms that the sentence was indeed carried out.
Daniel 4:29The twelve-month gap between the warning and the sentence being carried out suggests the king had plenty of time to change his ways before the fall, which makes his arrogance in the next verse all the more glaring.
Daniel 4:30‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built...’ is the exact moment of pride that triggers the punishment — the line sounds like something a ruler would really say while admiring his own work, making the contrast with the humiliation that follows even sharper.
Daniel 4:31The punishment comes the very instant the king finishes boasting about his own greatness — an immediate narrative reversal, with no gap at all between the arrogance and the fall.
Daniel 4:32This is the third time the text repeats almost the same line about eating ‘grass as oxen’ — the hammering repetition reinforces that this is not a vague threat but something that will actually happen, word for word.
Daniel 4:33The description of the king eating grass like oxen, with hair like eagles’ feathers and nails like birds’ claws, is one of the strangest scenes in the Bible — it depicts some kind of severe mental and behavioral collapse, without the text offering any clearer diagnosis beyond that.
Daniel 4:34Nebuchadnezzar’s recovery, ending in praise of the one who ‘ruleth in the kingdom of men,’ closes the chapter with the same lesson as chapter 2: even the most powerful king in the known world is shown to depend on an authority greater than his own.
Daniel 4:35Set against the heavenly army and the earth’s inhabitants, this extreme contrast, everything reduced to ‘nothing’ before God, is exactly the lesson Nebuchadnezzar’s experience was meant to teach any powerful ruler.
Daniel 4:36Nebuchadnezzar’s restoration is not only mental: his counselors and nobles come seeking him out again, showing that the court accepts him back into power as soon as he regains his senses.
Daniel 4:37The chapter ends with the pagan king himself making a declaration of faith — an unusual ending for a biblical story, in which the one who learns the lesson is not an Israelite character, but the most powerful foreign ruler of the age.