Daniel 4:25

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

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

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

כֹּ֣לָּא מְּטָ֔א עַל־נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּ֖ר מַלְכָּֽא׃ פ

Transliteration

All məṭāʾ upon-Nəbûkadneṣṣar malkāʾ.

Grammar Details

• *məṭāʾ*: perfect verb, 3rd person masculine singular - it came
• *Nəbûkadneṣṣar*: proper noun - Nebuchadnezzar
• *malkāʾ*: noun, masculine singular emphatic - the king

Word Meanings

• *məṭāʾ*: came/happened/befell
• *kōllāʾ*: all/everything/the whole

Referenced Verses

• Dan 4:17 : 17 This announcement is by the decree of the sentinels; this decision is by the pronouncement of the holy ones, so that those who are alive may understand that the Most High has authority over human kingdoms, and he bestows them on whomever he wishes. He establishes over them even the lowliest of human beings.’
• Ps 83:18 : 18 Then they will know that you alone are the LORD, the Most High over all the earth.
• Jer 27:5 : 5 “I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, and I give it to whomever I see fit.
• Dan 2:21 : 21 He changes times and seasons, deposing some kings and establishing others. He gives wisdom to the wise; he imparts knowledge to those with understanding;
• Ps 106:20 : 20 They traded their majestic God for the image of an ox that eats grass.
• Job 30:3-8 : 3 gaunt with want and hunger, they would roam the parched land, by night a desolate waste. 4 By the brush they would gather herbs from the salt marshes, and the root of the broom tree was their food. 5 They were banished from the community– people shouted at them like they would shout at thieves– 6 so that they had to live in the dry stream beds, in the holes of the ground, and among the rocks. 7 They brayed like animals among the bushes and were huddled together under the nettles. 8 Sons of senseless and nameless people, they were driven out of the land with whips.
• Dan 4:32-35 : 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 you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.” 33 Now in that very moment this pronouncement about Nebuchadnezzar came true. He was driven from human society, he ate grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until his hair became long like an eagle’s feathers, and his nails like a bird’s claws. 34 But at the end of the appointed time I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me. I extolled the Most High, and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever. For his authority is an everlasting authority, and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he wishes with the army of heaven and with those who inhabit the earth. No one slaps his hand and says to him,‘What have you done?’
• Dan 5:21-31 : 21 He was driven from human society, his mind was changed to that of an animal, he lived 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. 22 “But you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, although you knew all this. 23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone– gods that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control your very breath and all your ways! 24 Therefore the palm of a hand was sent from him, and this writing was inscribed. 25 “This is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEQEL, and PHARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the words: As for mene– God has numbered your kingdom’s days and brought it to an end. 27 As for teqel– you are weighed on the balances and found to be lacking. 28 As for peres– your kingdom is divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.” 29 Then, on Belshazzar’s orders, Daniel was clothed in purple, a golden collar was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom. 30 And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed. 31 (6:1) So Darius the Mede took control of the kingdom when he was about sixty-two years old.
• Mark 5:3-4 : 3 He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
• Ps 75:7 : 7 For God is the judge! He brings one down and exalts another.