1. I Nabuchodonosor, was quiet in my house, and florishing in my palace.
2. I saw a dreame that made me sore afrayd: and my cogitations in my bed, and the visions of my head disturbed me.
3. And by me there was a dacee set forth, that al wisemen of Babylon should be brought into my sight, and that they should shew me the solution of the dreame.
4. Then came in the southsayers, magicians, Chaldees, and diuiners, and I told the dreame in their sight: & the solution therof they shewed me not:
5. til their collegue Daniel came into my sight, whose name is Baltassar, according to the name of my God, who hath the spirit of the holie goddes in himself: and I told the dreame before him.
6. Baltassar prince of the southsayers, because I know that thou hast the spirit of the holie goddes in thee, and no secrete is impossible to thee: tel thou the visions of my dreames, which I haue sene, and the solution of them.
7. The vision of my head in my bed, I saw, and behold a tree in the middes of the earth, and the height therof exceding.
8. A great tree, and strong: and the height therof touching the heauen: the sight therof was euen to the endes of al the earth.
9. The leaues therof moust fayre, and the fruit therof exceding much: and the foode of al thinges in it: vnder it dwelt cattel, and beasts, and in the boughes therof conuersed the foules of heauen: and of it al flesh did eate.
10. I saw in the vision of my head vpon my bed, & behold a watchman, and an holie one descended from heauen.
11. He cried mightely, and thus he sayd: Cut ye downe the tree, & choppe of the boughes therof: shake of the leaues therof, and scatter the fruits therof: let the beasts flie that are vnder it, and the foules from the boughes therof.
12. But yet leaue the spring of the rootes therof in the earth, and let it be tyed with yron, and brasen band among the grasse, that is without, and let it be dipped with the dew of heauen, and with wild beasts his portion in the grasse of the earth.
13. Let his hart be changed from humane, & let the hart of a wild beast be geuen him: and let seuen times be changed ouer him.
14. In the sentence of the watchman is the decre, and the word of saintes, and the petition, til the liuing know, that the hiegh one ruleth in the kingdom of men; and to whom soeuer it shal please him, he wil geue it, & the basest man he wil appoint ouer it.
15. This dreame saw I Nabuchodonosor the king: thou therfore o Baltassar tel the interpretation quickly: because al the wisemen of my kingdom can not declare the solution vnto me: but thou canst, because the spirit of holie goddes is in thee.
16. Then Daniel, whose name was Baltassar, began secretely to thinke within himself as it were for one houre: & his cogitations trubled him. But the king answering said: Baltassar, let not the dreame and the interpretation therof truble thee. Baltassar answered, and said: My lord, the dreame be to them, that hate thee, and the interpretation therof be thine enemies.
17. The tree which thou sawest high and strong, whose height reacheth to heauen, and the sight therof into al the earth:
18. and the bough therof most fayre, and the fruit therof exceding much, and the foode of things in it, vnder it the beasts of the filde inhabiting, & in the boughes therof the foules of heauen abyding:
19. It is thou king, which art magnified, & become mightie: & thy greatnes hath growen, and is come euen to heauen, and thy power vnto the endes of the earth.
20. But in that the king saw a watchman, and an holie one descend from heauen, and say: Cut ye downe the tree, and dissipate it, but leaue the spring of the rootes therof in the earth, and let it be bound with yron and brasse among the grasse without, and let it be sprinkled with the dew of heauen, and let his foder be with the wild beasts, til seauen times be changed ouer him.
21. This is the interpretation of the sentence of the Highest, which is come vpon my Lord the king.
22. They shal cast thee out from men, and with beasts and wilde beasts shal thy habitation be, and grasse thou shalt eate as an oxe, & with the dew of heauen thou shalt be wett: seuen times also shal be chaunged ouer thee, til thou know that the High one ruleth ouer the kingdoms of men, and geueth it to whomsoeuer he wil.
23. But wheras he commanded, that the spring of the rootes therof, that is, of the tree, should be left: thy kingdom shal remayne to thee after thou shalt haue knowen that powre is heauenly.
24. Wherfore o king let me counsel thee, and redeme thou thy sinnes with almes, & thine iniquities with the mercies of the poore: perhaps he wil forgeue thyne offences.
25. Al these thinges came vpon Nabuchodonosor the king.
26. After the end of twelue moneths he walked in the palace of Babylon.
27. And the king answered, & sayd: Is not this Babylon the great citie, which I haue built to be the house of the kingdom, in the strength of my powre, and in the glorie of my beautie?
28. And when the word was yet in the kings mouth, a voice came downe from heauen: To thee it is sayd Nabuchodonosor: Thy kingdom shal passe from thee,
29. and from men they shal cast thee out, and with beastes and wilde beasts shal thy habitation be: grasse as an oxe shalt thou eate, and seuen times shal be changed ouer thee til thou know that the Hiegh one ruleth in the kingdom of men, & to whom soeuer he wil, he geueth it.
30. The self same houre was the word accomplished vpon Nabuchodosonosor, and he was cast away from among men, & as an oxe did he eate grasse, and with the dew of heauen his bodie was imbrued: til his heares grew into the similitude of eagles, & his nailes as it were of birds.
31. Therfore after the end of dayes, I Nabuchodonosor lifted vp mine eyes to heauen, and my sense was restored to me: and I blessed the Highest, and praysed him that liueth for euer, and glorified him: because his powre is an euerlasting powre, and his kingdom in generation and generation.
32. And al the inhabitants of the earth with him are reputed for nothing: for he doth according to his wil, as wel in the powres of heauen, 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 returne to me, & I came to the honour, and beautie of my kingdom: and my figure returned to me: and my nobles, & my magistrates sought for me, and I was stored in my kingdom: and more ample magnificence was added to me.
34. Now therfore I Nabuchodonosor praise, and magnifie, and glorifie the king of heauen: because al his workes are true, and his wayes judgements, and them that walke in pride he can humble.