se they
are mighty: and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his power to
all generations.

Daniel Chapter 4

Nabuchodonosor's dream, by which the judgments of God are denounced
against him for his pride, is interpreted by Daniel, and verified by the
event.

4:1. I, Nabuchodonosor, was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my
palace:

4:2. I saw a dream that affrighted me: and my thoughts in my bed, and
the visions of my head, troubled me.

4:3. Then I set forth a decree, that all the wise men of Babylon should
be brought in before me, and that they should shew me the interpretation
of the dream.

4:4. Then came in the diviners, the wise men, the Chaldeans, and the
soothsayers, and I told the dream before them: but they did not shew me
the interpretation thereof.

4:5. Till their colleague, Daniel, came in before me, whose name is
Baltassar, according to the name of my god, who hath in him the spirit
of the holy gods: and I told the dream before him.

Baltassar, according to the name of my god... He says this, because the
name of Baltassar, or Belteshazzar, is derived from the name of Bel, the
chief god of the Babylonians.

4:6. Baltassar, prince of the diviners, because I know that thou hast in
thee the spirit of the holy gods, and that no secret is impossible to
thee, tell me the visions of my dreams that I have seen, and the
interpretation of them?

4:7. This was the vision of my head in my bed: I saw, and behold a tree
in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was exceeding great.

4:8. The tree was great and strong, and the height thereof reached unto
heaven: the sight thereof was even to the ends of all the earth.

4:9. Its leaves were most beautiful, and its fruit exceeding much: and
in it was food for all: under it dwelt cattle and beasts, and in the
branches thereof the fowls of the air had their abode: and all flesh did
eat of it.

4:10. I saw in the vision of my head upon my bed, and behold a watcher,
and a holy one came down from heaven.

A watcher... A vigilant angel, perhaps the guardian of Israel.

4:11. He cried aloud, and said thus: Cut down the tree, and chop off the
branches thereof: shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruits: let the
beasts fly away that are under it, and the birds from its branches.

4:12. Nevertheless, leave the stump of its roots in the earth, and let
it be tied with a band of iron and of brass, among the grass, that is
without, and let it b