You people of Israel should tell those nations this: ‘These gods did not make heaven and earth. They will disappear from the earth and from under the heavens.’

so that they may be offering incense to the God of heaven and may be praying for the good fortune of the king and his family.

“Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the perfect law of the God of heaven:

Then in a night vision the mystery was revealed to Daniel. So Daniel praised the God of heaven,

The tree grew large and strong. Its top reached far into the sky; it could be seen from the borders of all the land.

Everything that the God of heaven has required should be precisely done for the temple of the God of heaven. Why should there be wrath against the empire of the king and his sons?

He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

“You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has granted you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor.

While I was watching in my mind’s visions on my bed, a holy sentinel came down from heaven.

The tree that you saw that grew large and strong, whose top reached to the sky, and which could be seen in all the land,

whose foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful, and from which there was food available for all, under whose branches wild animals used to live, and in whose branches birds of the sky used to nest –

it is you, O king! For you have become great and strong. Your greatness is such that it reaches to heaven, and your authority to the ends of the earth.

They said to leave the taproot of the tree, for your kingdom will be restored to you when you come to understand that heaven rules.

While these words were still on the king’s lips, a voice came down from heaven: “It is hereby announced to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that your kingdom has been removed from you!

He rescues and delivers and performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions!”

Daniel explained: “I was watching in my vision during the night as the four winds of the sky were stirring up the great sea.

I was watching in the night visions, “And with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man was approaching. He went up to the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him.

As for the king seeing a holy sentinel coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its taproot in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, surrounded by the grass of the field. Let it become damp with the dew of the sky, and let it live with the wild animals, until seven periods of time go by for him’ –

They responded to us in the following way: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king of Israel built it and completed it.

But after our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon.