Daniel 4:17

4:17 This announcement is by the decree of the sentinels;

this decision is by the pronouncement of the holy ones,

so that ¹  those who are alive may understand

that the Most High has authority over human kingdoms, ² 

and he bestows them on whomever he wishes.

He establishes over them even the lowliest of human beings.’

Daniel 4:25

4:25 You will be driven ³  from human society, ⁴  and you will live ⁵  with the wild animals. You will be fed ⁶  grass like oxen, ⁷  and you will become damp with the dew of the sky. Seven periods of time will pass by for you, before ⁸  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.

Daniel 4:32

4:32 You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before ⁹  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.”

Daniel 5:21

5:21 He was driven from human society, his mind ¹⁰  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ¹¹  with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.

Daniel 7:4

7:4 “The first one was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was lifted up from the ground. It was made to stand on two feet like a human being, and a human mind ¹²  was given to it. ¹³ 

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¹ tc The present translation follows an underlying reading of עַל־דִּבְרַת (’al-divrat, “so that”) rather than MT עַד־דִּבְרַת (’ad-divrat, “until”).

² tn Aram “the kingdom of man”; NASB “the realm of mankind”; NCV “every kingdom on earth.”

³ tn The Aramaic indefinite active plural is used here like the English passive. So also in v. 28, 29,32.

⁴ tn Aram “from mankind.” So also in v. 32.

⁵ tn Aram “your dwelling will be.” So also in v. 32.

⁶ tn Or perhaps “be made to eat.”

⁷ sn Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity has features that are associated with the mental disorder known as boanthropy, in which the person so afflicted imagines himself to be an ox or a similar animal and behaves accordingly.

⁸ tn Aram “until.”

⁹ tn Aram “until.”

¹⁰ tn Aram “heart.”

¹¹ tn Aram “his dwelling.”

¹² tn Aram “heart of a man.”

¹³ sn The identity of the first animal, derived from v. 17 and the parallels in chap. 2, is Babylon. The reference to the plucking of its wings is probably a reference to the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity (cf. chap. 4). The latter part of v. 4 then describes the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar. The other animals have traditionally been understood to represent respectively Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, although most of modern scholarship identifies them as Media, Persia, and Greece. For a biblical parallel to the mention of lion, bear, and leopard together, see Hos 13:7-8.