While I was watching,
there was a tree in the middle of the land. 2
It was enormously tall. 3
4:11 The tree grew large and strong.
Its top reached far into the sky;
it could be seen 4 from the borders of all the land. 5
4:12 Its foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful;
on it there was food enough for all.
Under it the wild animals 6 used to seek shade,
and in its branches the birds of the sky used to nest.
All creatures 7 used to feed themselves from it.
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 “its sight.” So also v. 17.
5 tn Or “to the end of all the earth” (so KJV, ASV); NCV, CEV “from anywhere on earth.”
6 tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”
7 tn Aram “all flesh.”