Daniel 4:1-12

4:1 (3:31) ¹  “King Nebuchadnezzar, to all peoples, nations, and language groups that live in all the land: Peace and prosperity! ²  4:2 I am delighted to tell you about the signs and wonders that the most high God has done for me.

4:3 “How great are his signs!

How mighty are his wonders!

His kingdom will last forever, ³ 

and his authority continues from one generation to the next.”

Nebuchadnezzar Dreams of a Tree Chopped Down

4:4 (4:1) ⁴  I, Nebuchadnezzar, was relaxing in my home, ⁵  living luxuriously ⁶  in my palace. 4:5 I saw a dream that ⁷  frightened me badly. The things I imagined while lying on my bed – these visions of my mind – were terrifying me. 4:6 So I issued an order ⁸  for all the wise men of Babylon to be brought ⁹  before me so that they could make known to me the interpretation of the dream. 4:7 When the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners entered, I recounted the dream for them. But they were unable to make known its interpretation to me. 4:8 Later Daniel entered (whose name is Belteshazzar after the name of my god, ¹⁰  and in whom there is a spirit of the holy gods). I recounted the dream for him as well, 4:9 saying, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, in whom I know there to be a spirit of the holy gods and whom no mystery baffles, consider ¹¹  my dream that I saw and set forth its interpretation! 4:10 Here are the visions of my mind ¹²  while I was on my bed.

While I was watching,

there was a tree in the middle of the land. ¹³ 

It was enormously tall. ¹⁴ 

4:11 The tree grew large and strong.

Its top reached far into the sky;

it could be seen ¹⁵  from the borders of all the land. ¹⁶ 

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

on it there was food enough for all.

Under it the wild animals ¹⁷  used to seek shade,

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

All creatures ¹⁸  used to feed themselves from it.

[4:1]  ¹ sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:37 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Aramaic text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:31 AT, 4:2 ET = 3:32 AT, 4:3 ET = 3:33 AT, 4:4 ET = 4:1 AT, etc., through 4:37 ET = 4:34 AT. Thus Dan 3:31-33 of the Aramaic text appears as Dan 4:1-3 in the English Bible, and the corresponding verses of ch. 4 differ accordingly. In spite of the division of the Aramaic text, a good case can be made that 3:31-33 AT (= 4:1-3 ET) is actually the introduction to ch. 4.

[4:1]  ² tn Aram “May your peace increase!”

[4:3]  ³ tn Aram “his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”

[4:4]  ⁴ sn This verse marks the beginning of chap. 4 in the Aramaic text of Daniel (see the note on 4:1). The Greek OT (LXX) has the following addition: “In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign he said.” This date would suggest a link to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. In general, the LXX of chapters 4-6 is very different from the MT, so much so that the following notes will call attention only to selected readings. In Daniel 4 the LXX lacks sizable portions of material in the MT (e.g., vv. 3-6, 31-32), includes sizable portions of material not in the MT (e.g., v. 14a, parts of vv. 16, 28), has a different order of some material (e.g., v. 8 after v. 9), and in some instances is vastly different from the MT (e.g., vv. 30, 34). Whether these differences are due to an excessively paraphrastic translation technique adopted for these chapters in the LXX, or are due to differences in the underlying Vorlage of the LXX, is a disputed matter. The latter seems more likely. There is a growing trend in modern scholarship to take the LXX of chapters 4-6 much more seriously than was the case in most earlier text-critical studies that considered this issue.

[4:4]  ⁵ tn Aram “my house.”

[4:4]  ⁶ tn Aram “happy.”

[4:5]  ⁷ tn Aram “and it.”

[4:6]  ⁸ tn Aram “from me there was placed a decree.”

[4:6]  ⁹ tn The Aramaic infinitive here is active.

[4:8]  ¹⁰ sn This explanation of the meaning of the name Belteshazzar may be more of a paronomasia than a strict etymology.

[4:9]  ¹¹ tc The present translation assumes the reading חֲזִי (khazi, “consider”) rather than the MT חֶזְוֵי (khezvey, “visions”). The MT implies that the king required Daniel to disclose both the dream and its interpretation, as in chapter 2. But in the following verses Nebuchadnezzar recounts his dream, while Daniel presents only its interpretation.

[4:10]  ¹² tc The LXX lacks the first two words (Aram “the visions of my head”) of the Aramaic text.

[4:10]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “its height was great.”

[4:11]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “its sight.” So also v. 17.

[4:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “to the end of all the earth” (so KJV, ASV); NCV, CEV “from anywhere on earth.”

[4:12]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”

[4:12]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “all flesh.”