23. While Your Majesty was watching, an angel came down from heaven and said, ‘Cut the tree down and destroy it, but leave the stump in the ground. Wrap a band of iron and bronze round it, and leave it there in the field with the grass. Let the dew fall on this man, and let him live there with the animals for seven years.’
24. “This, then, is what it means, Your Majesty, and this is what the Supreme God has declared will happen to you.
25. You will be driven away from human society and will live with wild animals. For seven years you will eat grass like an ox, and sleep in the open air, where the dew will fall on you. Then you will admit that the Supreme God controls all human kingdoms, and that he can give them to anyone he chooses.
26. The angel ordered the stump to be left in the ground. This means that you will become king again when you acknowledge that God rules all the world.
27. So then, Your Majesty, follow my advice. Stop sinning, do what is right, and be merciful to the poor. Then you will continue to be prosperous.”
28. All this did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar.
29. Only twelve months later, while he was walking about on the roof of his royal palace in Babylon,
30. he said, “Look how great Babylon is! I built it as my capital city to display my power and might, my glory and majesty.”