Douay Rheims Original ↷
Daniel 4 📜 📕 ↷
Nebuchadnezzar Confesses God's Kingdom
1 I, Nabuchodonosor, was quiet in my house, and flourishing in my palace.📜💬📚
2 I saw a dream that made me sore afraid: and my cogitations in my bed, and the visions of my head disturbed me.📜💬📚
3 And by me there was a decree set forth, that all the wisemen of Babylon should be brought into my sight, and that they should shew me the solution of the dream.📜💬📚
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of a Great Tree
4 Then came in the soothsayers, magicians, Chaldees, and diviners, and I told the dream in their sight: & the solution thereof they shewed me not:📜💬📚
5 till their colleague Daniel came into my sight, whose name is Baltassar, according to the name of my God, who hath the spirit of the holy gods in himself: and I told the dream before him.📜💬📚
6 Baltassar prince of the soothsayers, because I know that thou hast the spirit of the holy gods in thee, and no secret is impossible to thee: tell thou the visions of my dreams, which I have seen, and the solution of them.📜💬📚
7 The vision of my head in my bed, I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof exceeding.📜💬📚
8 A great tree, and strong: and the height thereof touching the heaven: the sight thereof was even to the ends of all the earth.📜💬📚
9 The leaves thereof most fair, and the fruit thereof exceeding much: and the food of all things in it: under it dwelt cattle, and beasts, and in the boughs thereof conversed the fowls of heaven: and of it all flesh did eat.📜💬📚
10 I saw in the vision of my head upon my bed, & behold a watchman, and an holy one descended from heaven.📜💬📚
11 He cried mightily, and thus he said: Cut ye down the tree, & chop off the boughs thereof: shake off the leaves thereof, and scatter the fruits thereof: let the beasts fly that are under it, and the fowls from the boughs thereof.📜💬📚
12 But yet leave the spring of the roots thereof in the earth, and let it be tied with iron, and brazen band among the grass, that is without, and let it be dipped with the dew of heaven, and with wild beasts his portion in the grass of the earth.📜💬📚
13 Let his heart be changed from human, & let the heart of a wild beast be given him: and let seven times be changed over him.📜💬📚
14 In the sentence of the watchman is the decree, and the word of saints, and the petition, till the living know, that the high one ruleth in the kingdom of men; and to whom soever it shall please him, he will give it, & the basest man he will appoint over it.📜💬📚
15 This dream saw I, Nabuchodonosor the king: thou therefore o Baltassar tell the interpretation quickly: because all the wisemen of my kingdom can not declare the solution unto me: but thou canst, because the spirit of holy gods is in thee.📜💬📚
16 Then Daniel, whose name was Baltassar, began secretly to think within himself as it were for one hour: & his cogitations troubled him. But the king answering said: Baltassar, let not the dream and the interpretation thereof trouble thee. Baltassar answered, and said: My lord, the dream be to them, that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof be thine enemies.📜💬📚
17 The tree which thou sawest high and strong, whose height reacheth to heaven, and the sight thereof into all the earth:📜💬📚
18 and the bough thereof most fair, and the fruit thereof exceeding much, and the food of things in it, under it the beasts of the field inhabiting, & in the boughs thereof the fowls of heaven abiding:📜💬📚
Daniel Interprets the Second Dream
19 It is thou king, which art magnified, & become mighty: & thy greatness hath grown, and is come even to heaven, and thy power unto the ends of the earth.📜💬📚
20 But in that the king saw a watchman, and an holy one descend from heaven, and say: Cut ye down the tree, and dissipate it, but leave the spring of the roots thereof in the earth, and let it be bound with iron and brass among the grass without, and let it be sprinkled with the dew of heaven, and let his fodder be with the wild beasts, till seven times be changed over him.📜💬📚
21 This is the interpretation of the sentence of the Highest, which is come upon my lord the king.📜💬📚
22 They shall cast thee out from men, and with beasts and wild beasts shall thy habitation be, and grass thou shalt eat as an ox, & with the dew of heaven thou shalt be wet: seven times also shall be changed over thee, till thou know that the High one ruleth over the kingdoms of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.📜💬📚
23 But whereas he commanded, that the spring of the roots thereof, that is, of the tree, should be left: thy kingdom shall remain to thee after thou shalt have known that power is heavenly.📜💬📚
24 Wherefore o king let me counsel thee, and redeem thou thy sins with alms, & thine iniquities with the mercies of the poor: perhaps he will forgive thine offences.📜💬📚
25 All these things came upon Nabuchodonosor the king.📜💬📚
26 After the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of Babylon.📜💬📚
27 And the king answered, & said: Is not this Babylon the great city, which I have built to be the house of the kingdom, in the strength of my power, and in the glory of my beauty?📜💬📚
Second Dream Fulfilled
28 And when the word was yet in the king's mouth, a voice came down from heaven: To thee it is said Nabuchodonosor: Thy kingdom shall pass from thee,📜💬📚
29 and from men they shall cast thee out, and with beasts and wild beasts shall thy habitation be: grass as an ox shalt thou eat, and seven times shall be changed over thee till thou know that the High one ruleth in the kingdom of men, & to whom soever he will, he giveth it.📜💬📚
30 The self same hour was the word accomplished upon Nabuchodonosor, and he was cast away from among men, & as an ox did he eat grass, and with the dew of heaven his body was imbrued: till his hairs grew into the similitude of eagle's, & his nails as it were of bird's.📜💬📚
31 Therefore after the end of the days, I, Nabuchodonosor lifted up mine eyes to heaven, and my sense was restored to me: and I blessed the Highest, and praised him that liveth for ever, and glorified him: because his power is an everlasting power, and his kingdom in generation and generation.📜💬📚
32 And all the inhabitants of the earth with him are reputed for nothing: for he doth according to his will, as well in the powers of heaven, as in the inhabitants of the earth: & there is none that can resist his hand, and say to him: Why didst thou it?📜💬📚
33 In the very same time did my sense return to me, & I came to the honour, and beauty of my kingdom: and my figure returned to me: and my nobles, & my magistrates sought for me, and I was restored in my kingdom: and more ample magnificence was added to me.📜💬📚
Nebuchadnezzar Restored
34 Now therefore I, Nabuchodonosor praise, and magnify, and glorify the King of heaven: because all his works are true, and his ways judgements, and them that walk in pride he can humble.📜💬📚
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