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Daniel 4

The King Acknowledges God

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 1Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every  2language that live in all the earth: "May your  3 apeace abound!

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"It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the  aMost High God has done for me.

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"How great are His  asigns And how mighty are His wonders! His  bkingdom is an everlasting kingdom And His dominion is from generation to generation.

The Vision of a Great Tree

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1I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and  aflourishing in my palace.

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"I saw a  adream and it made me fearful; and these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the  bvisions  1in my mind kept alarming me.

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"So I gave orders to  abring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

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"Then the  1 amagicians, the conjurers, the  2Chaldeans and the diviners came in and I related the dream  3to them, but they could not make its  binterpretation known to me.

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"But finally Daniel came in before me, whose name is  aBelteshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is  1 ba spirit of the holy gods; and I related the dream  2to him, saying,

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`O Belteshazzar,  achief of the magicians, since I know that  ba spirit of the holy gods is in you and  cno mystery baffles you,  dtell me the visions of my dream which I have seen, along with its interpretation.

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`Now these were the  avisions  1in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a  btree in the midst of the  2earth and its height was great.

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`The tree grew large and became strong And its height  areached to the sky, And it was visible to the end of the whole earth.

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`Its foliage was  abeautiful and its fruit abundant, And in it was food for all. The  bbeasts of the field found  cshade under it, And the  dbirds of the sky dwelt in its branches, And all  1living creatures fed themselves from it.

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`I was looking in the  avisions  1in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold,  ban angelic watcher, a  choly one, descended from heaven.

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`He shouted out and spoke as follows: " aChop down the tree and cut off its branches, Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit; Let the  bbeasts flee from under it And the birds from its branches.

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"Yet  aleave the stump  1with 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  2him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth.

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"Let his  1mind be changed from that of a man And let a beast's  1mind be given to him, And let  aseven  2periods of time pass over him.

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"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  aknow That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, And  bbestows it on whom He wishes And sets over it the  clowliest of men."

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

Daniel Interprets the Vision

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"Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was appalled for a while as his  athoughts alarmed him. The king responded and said, `Belteshazzar, do not  blet the dream or its interpretation alarm you.' Belteshazzar replied, ` cMy lord, if only the dream applied to those who hate you and its interpretation to  dyour adversaries!

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`The  atree that you saw, which became large and grew strong, whose height reached to the sky and was visible to all the earth

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and 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--

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it is  ayou, O king; for you have become great and grown strong, and your  1majesty has become great and reached to the sky and your  bdominion to the end of the earth.

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`In that the king saw an angelic watcher, a holy one, descending from heaven and saying, " aChop down the tree and destroy it; yet leave the stump  1with 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  2him share with the beasts of the field until  bseven  3periods of time pass over him,"

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this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has  acome upon my lord the king:

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that you be  adriven 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  1periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the  bMost High is ruler over the realm of mankind and  cbestows it on whomever He wishes.

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`And in that it was commanded to  aleave the stump  1with the roots of the tree, your kingdom will be  2assured to you after you recognize that it is  bHeaven that rules.

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`Therefore, O king, may my  aadvice be pleasing to you:  1 bbreak away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by  cshowing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a  dprolonging of your prosperity.'

The Vision Fulfilled

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"All this  ahappened to Nebuchadnezzar the king.

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aTwelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon.

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"The king  1reflected and said, `Is this not Babylon the  agreat, which I myself have built as a royal  2residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?'

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"While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice  1came from heaven, saying, `King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared:  2sovereignty has been removed from you,

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and  ayou 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  bseven  1periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the  cMost High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.'

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"Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was  adriven 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.

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"But at the end of  1that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my  2reason returned to me, and I blessed the  aMost High and praised and honored  bHim who lives forever; For His dominion is an  ceverlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

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aAll the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But  bHe does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And  cno one can  1ward off His hand Or say to Him, ` dWhat have You done?'

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"At that time my  1 areason returned to me. And my majesty and  bsplendor were  2restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my  3sovereignty, and surpassing  cgreatness was added to me.

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"Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of  aheaven, for  ball His works are  1true and His ways  2just, and He is able to humble those who  cwalk in pride."



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:23:57 2007)

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