37 You, O king, are king of the [earthly] kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory. [Jer. 25:9; 27:6; 28:14.]
The Lord my Master says these things, “I will bring an enemy from the north against Tyre. That enemy is Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon! He will bring a very large army. There will be horses, chariots, {\cf2\super [212]} horse soldiers and many, many other soldiers! Those soldiers will be from many different nations.
“So Babylon, sit there and be quiet.\par Daughter of the Chaldeans, {\cf2\super [411]} \par go into the darkness.\par Why? Because you will no longer be\par ‘The Queen of the Kingdoms.’\par
They will make war against the Lamb. But the Lamb will defeat them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. He will defeat them with his chosen and faithful followers—the people that he has called.”
“Our Lord and God!\par You are worthy to receive glory and\par honor and power.\par You made all things.\par Everything existed and was made\par because you wanted it.”\par
Israel went to his ‘lovers’ among the nations.\par But I will gather the Israelites together.\par But they must suffer a little from the burden\par of that mighty king.\par
Then at the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up toward heaven. And I was in my right mind again. Then I gave praise to God Most High. I gave honor and glory to him who lives forever.
You will be forced to go away from people. You will live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like a cow. Seven seasons (years) will pass before you learn your lesson. Then you will learn that God Most High rules over the kingdoms of men. And that God Most High gives kingdoms to anyone he wants.”
King Nebuchadnezzar, you will be forced to go away from people. You will live among the wild animals. You will eat grass like cattle. And you will become wet with dew. {\cf2\super [46]} Seven seasons (years) will pass, and then you will learn this lesson. You will learn God Most High rules over the kingdoms of men. And God Most High gives kingdoms to anyone he wants.
God has done amazing miracles!\par God has done powerful miracles!\par God’s kingdom continues forever;\par God’s rule will continue for all generations.\par
The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations. I will do that to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And they will be slaves to him. I will even give Nebuchadnezzar control over the wild animals.’”
Cyrus, King of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaven, made me king over the whole earth. He gave me the responsibility of building a temple {\cf2\super [459]} for him in Jerusalem. Now, all of you who are God’s people are free to go to Jerusalem. And may the Lord your God be with you.
Solomon ruled over all the countries west of the Euphrates River. This was the land from Tiphsah to Gaza. And Solomon had peace on all sides of his kingdom.
The message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The message came at the time when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, was fighting against Jerusalem and all the towns around it. Nebuchadnezzar had with him all his army and the armies of all the kingdoms and peoples in the empire he ruled.
The Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar to defeat Jehoiakim king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar took all of the dishes and other things from God’s temple. Nebuchadnezzar carried those things to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar put those things in the temple of his idol gods.
“During the time of the kings \{of the fourth kingdom\}, the God of heaven will set up another kingdom. This kingdom will continue forever! It will never be destroyed! And it will be the kind of kingdom that can’t be passed on to another group of people. This kingdom will crush all those other kingdoms. It will bring those kingdoms to an end. But that kingdom itself will continue forever.
King, you are that tree! You have become great and powerful. You are like the tall tree that touched the sky—and your power reaches to the far parts of the earth.
“The person that looked like a human being was given authority, glory, and complete ruling power. People from every nation and every language will worship him. His rule will last forever. His kingdom will continue forever. It will never be destroyed.
“King, in your dream you saw a large statue {\cf2\super [13]} in front of you. The statue was very large and it was shiny and very impressive. It would make a person’s eyes wide from amazement.
Then Daniel (also named Belteshazzar) became very quiet for about an hour. The things he was thinking bothered him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar (Daniel), don’t let the dream or its meaning make you afraid.”