1Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that live in all the earth: "May your peace abound!

2"It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me.
    3"How great are His signs
         And how mighty are His wonders!
         His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom
         And His dominion is from generation to generation.

The Vision of a Great Tree

4"I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.5"I saw a dream and it made me fearful; and these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.6"So I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream

 7"Then the magicians, the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners came in and I related the dream to them, but they could not make its interpretation known to me.8"But finally Daniel came in before me, whose name is Belteshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and I related the dream to him, saying,9'O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, since I know that a spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery baffles you, tell me the visions of my dream which I have seen, along with its interpretation.10'Now these were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great.
    11'The tree grew large and became strong
         And its height reached to the sky,
         And it was visible to the end of the whole earth.
    12'Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant,
         And in it was food for all
         The beasts of the field found shade under it,
         And the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches,
         And all living creatures fed themselves from it.

Trees are common in Oriential dreams. The "cedars of Lebanon (cf. Ezek. 17:1.; Isa. 2:13; 10:18-19; Jer.22:7, 23). This tree dream certainly was natural for Nebuchadnezzar.

 13'I was looking in the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, an angelic watcher, holy one, descended from heaven.
    14'He shouted out and spoke as follows:
         "Chop down the tree and cut off its branches,
         Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit;
         Let the beasts flee from under it
         And the birds from its branches.
    15"Yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground,
         But with a band of iron and bronze around it
         In the new grass of the field;
         And let him be drenched with the dew of heaven,
         And let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth. 
    16"Let his mind be changed from that of a man
         And let a beast's mind be given to him,
         And let seven periods of time pass over him.
    17"This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers
         And the decision is a command of the holy ones,
         In order that the living may know
         That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind,
         And bestows it on whom He wishes
         And sets over it the lowliest of men."

 18'This is the dream which I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, tell me its interpretation, inasmuch as none of the wise men of my kingdom is able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for a spirit of the holy gods is in you.'

  19"Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was appalled for a while as his thoughts alarmed him The king responded and said, 'Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you ' Belteshazzar replied, 'My lord, if only the dream applied to those who hate you and its interpretation to your adversaries!20'The tree that you saw, which became large and grew strong, whose height reached to the sky and was visible to all the earth21and whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and in whose branches the birds of the sky lodged--22it is you, O king; for you have become great and grown strong, and your majesty has become great and reached to the sky and your dominion to the end of the earth.23'In that the king saw an angelic watcher, a holy one, descending from heaven and saying, "Chop down the tree and destroy it; yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground, but with a band of iron and bronze around it in the new grass of the field, and let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him share with the beasts of the field until seven periods of time pass over him,"

 24this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king:25that you be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.26'And in that it was commanded to leave the stump with the roots of the tree, your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is Heaven that rules.27'Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.'

"Our God is in the heavens; He has done whatsoever He pleased" (Psa.115:3)

"The Lord has prepared His throne in heaven and His kingdom rules over all" (Psa. 103:9)

One of the points in which the Bible story has been corroborated by the recently discovered records is the madness which afflicted the great king Nebuchadnezzar. His inscriptions could of course not be expected to make a positive statement that he was insane, but in the midst of his proud account of his building in Babylon--he was probably the greatest builder of all these ancient kings--there occurs abruptly the following significant passage: "For four years the capital of my kingdom did not rejoice my heart. In all my dominions I built no high place of magnificence, nor did I gather any treasure. In Babylon I erected no building for myself nor for the glory of my empire. In the worship of Bel-Marduk, my Lord, the joy of my heart, in Babylon, the city of his worship, I did not sing his praise. I did not sacrifice victims on his altar. In four years I did not repair the canals."

Those four years of joyless, unreligious idleness, the Bible tells us, were years of divine punishment. King Nebuchadnezzar had boasted to the prophet Daniel, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" And straightway, that he might known how small he was, he was afflicted with the dread disease which doctors call lycanthropy, in which the victim thinks himself a beast. So that the king "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."

Lycanthropia.] Lycanthropia, which Avicenna calls Cucubuth, others Lupinam insaniam, or Wolf-madness, when men run howling about graves and fields in the night, and will not be persuaded but that they are wolves, or some such beasts. Ætius and Paulus call it a kind of melancholy; but I should rather refer it to madness, as most do. Some make a doubt of it whether there be any such disease. Donat ab Altomari saith, that he saw two of them in his time: Wierus tells a story of such a one at Padua 1541, that would not believe to the contrary, but that he was a wolf. He hath another instance of a Spaniard, who thought himself a bear; Forrestus confirms as much by many examples; one amongst the rest of which he was an eye-witness, at Alemaer in Holland, a poor husbandman that still hunted about graves, and kept in churchyards, of a pale, black, ugly, and fearful look. Such belike, or little better, were King Prætus' daughters, that thought themselves kine. And Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel, as some interpreters hold, was only troubled with this kind of madness. This disease perhaps gave occasion to that bold assertion of Pliny, "some men were turned into wolves in his time, and from wolves to men again:" and to that fable of Pausanias, of a man that was ten years a wolf, and afterwards turned to his former shape: to Ovid's tale of Lycaon, &c. He that is desirous to hear of this disease, or more examples, let him read Austin in his 18th book de Civitate Dei, cap. 5. Mizaldus, cent. 5. 77. Sckenkius, lib. 1. Hildesheim, spicel. 2. de Mania. Forrestus. lib. 10. de morbis cerebri. Olaus Magnus, Vicentius' Bellavicensis, spec. met. lib. 31. c. 122. Pierius, Bodine, Zuinger, Zeilger, Peucer, Wierus, Spranger, &c. This malady, saith Avicenna, troubleth men most in February, and is now-a-days frequent in Bohemia and Hungary, according to Heurnius. Schernitzius will have it common in Livonia. They lie hid most part all day, and go abroad in the night, barking, howling, at graves and deserts; "they have usually hollow eyes, scabbed legs and thighs, very dry and pale," saith Altomarus; he gives a reason there of all the symptoms, and sets down a brief cure of them.

 28"All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king.

 29"Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon.30"The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?'31"While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, 'King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you,32and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.'33"Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws.

34"But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever;
         For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
         And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. 
    35"All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
         But He does according to His will in the host of heaven
         And among the inhabitants of earth;
         And no one can ward off His hand
         Or say to Him, 'What have You done?'

 36"At that time my reason returned to me And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me.37"Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride."