41 'Nebuchadnezzar the king to all peoples, nations, and languages, who are dwelling in all the earth: Your peace be great! 2 The signs and wonders that God Most High hath done with me, it is good before me to shew. 3 His signs how great! and His wonders how mighty! His kingdom 'is' a kingdom age-during, and His rule 'is' with generation and generation.
4 'I, Nebuchadnezzar, have been at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace: 5 a dream I have seen, and it maketh me afraid, and the conceptions on my bed, and the visions of my head, do trouble me. 6 And by me a decree is made, to cause all the wise men of Babylon to come up before me, that the interpretation of the dream they may cause me to know. 7 Then coming up are the scribes, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and the dream I have told before them, and its interpretation they are not making known to me. 8 And at last come up before me hath Daniel, whose name 'is' Belteshazzar—according to the name of my god—and in whom 'is' the spirit of the holy gods, and the dream before him I have told: 9 'O Belteshazzar, master of the scribes, as I have known that the spirit of the holy gods 'is' in thee, and no secret doth press thee, the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation, tell. 10 As to the visions of my head on my bed, I was looking, and lo, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height 'is' great: 11 become great hath the tree, yea, strong, and its height doth reach to the heavens, and its vision to the end of the whole land; 12 its leaves 'are' fair, and its budding great, and food for all 'is' in it: under it take shade doth the beast of the field, and in its boughs dwell do the birds of the heavens, and of it fed are all flesh. 13 'I was looking, in the visions of my head on my bed, and lo, a sifter, even a holy one, from the heavens is coming down. 14 He is calling mightily, and thus hath said, Cut down the tree, and cut off its branches, shake off its leaves, and scatter its budding, move away let the beast from under it, and the birds from off its branches; 15 but the stump of its roots leave in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field, and with the dew of the heavens is it wet, and with the beasts 'is' his portion in the herb of the earth; 16 his heart from man's is changed, and the heart of a beast is given to him, and seven times pass over him; 17 by the decree of the sifters 'is' the sentence, and by the saying of the holy ones the requirement, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High is ruler in the kingdom of men, and to whom He willeth He giveth it, and the lowest of men He doth raise up over it. 18 'This dream I have seen, I king Nebuchadnezzar; and thou, O Belteshazzar, the interpretation tell, because that all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to cause me to know the interpretation, and thou 'art' able, for the spirit of the holy gods 'is' in thee.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Daniel 4:1-18
Commentary on Daniel 4:1-18
(Read Daniel 4:1-18)
The beginning and end of this chapter lead us to hope, that Nebuchadnezzar was a monument of the power of Divine grace, and of the riches of Divine mercy. After he was recovered from his madness, he told to distant places, and wrote down for future ages, how God had justly humbled and graciously restored him. When a sinner comes to himself, he will promote the welfare of others, by making known the wondrous mercy of God. Nebuchadnezzar, before he related the Divine judgments upon him for his pride, told the warnings he had in a dream or vision. The meaning was explained to him. The person signified, was to be put down from honour, and to be deprived of the use of his reason seven years. This is surely the sorest of all temporal judgments. Whatever outward affliction God is pleased to lay upon us, we have cause to bear it patiently, and to be thankful that he continues the use of our reason, and the peace of our consciences. Yet if the Lord should see fit by such means to keep a sinner from multiplying crimes, or a believer from dishonouring his name, even the dreadful prevention would be far preferable to the evil conduct. God has determined it, as a righteous Judge, and the angels in heaven applaud. Not that the great God needs the counsel or concurrence of the angels, but it denotes the solemnity of this sentence. The demand is by the word of the holy ones, God's suffering people: when the oppressed cry to God, he will hear. Let us diligently seek blessings which can never be taken from us, and especially beware of pride and forgetfulness of God.