While I was watching,
there was a tree in the middle of the land. 2
It was enormously tall. 3
4:14 He called out loudly 4 as follows: 5
‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches!
Strip off its foliage
and scatter its fruit!
Let the animals flee from under it
and the birds from its branches!
1 tc The LXX lacks the first two words (Aram “the visions of my head”) of the Aramaic text.
2 tn Instead of “in the middle of the land,” some English versions render this phrase “a tree at the center of the earth” (NRSV); NAB, CEV “of the world”; NLT “in the middle of the earth.” The Hebrew phrase can have either meaning.
3 tn Aram “its height was great.”
4 tn Aram “in strength.”
5 tn Aram “and thus he was saying.”