Nebuchadnezzar saw a great tree that grew strong and provided shelter and food for many. A watcher commanded that the tree be cut down, leaving a stump bound with iron and bronze, and the person’s mind be changed for a time. Daniel 4:10–16
In Daniel 4:8–18, Nebuchadnezzar finally brings in Daniel (called Belteshazzar) after others fail to help. The king trusts Daniel because he believes a “spirit of the holy gods” is in him. Nebuchadnezzar recounts his dream: an enormous, world-visible tree that feeds and shelters all creatures. This unit sits inside Nebuchadnezzar’s first-person report of events, a royal-style testimony that frames the chapter. Earlier, the king has already described how he sought answers from various court experts and found them unable to explain the dream; these verses show the pivot to Daniel as the trusted interpreter.
This passage presents Nebuchadnezzar as unable to get help from his normal court experts and finally turning to Daniel, whom he considers uniquely able to explain “mysteries” (verses 8–9, 18).
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Daniel 4:10-16, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
10Thus were the visions of my head on my bed: I saw, and, behold, a tree in the midst of the earth; and the height of it was great.
11The tree grew, and was strong, and the height of it reached to the sky, and the sight of it to the end of all the earth.
12The leaves of it were beautiful, and the fruit of it much, and in it was food for all: the animals of the field had shadow under it, and the birds of the sky lived in the branches of it, and all flesh was fed from it.
13I saw in the visions of my head on my bed, and, behold, a watcher and a holy one came down from the sky.
14He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off its branches, shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit: let the animals get away from under it, and the fowls from its branches.
15Nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of the sky: and let his portion be with the animals in the grass of the earth:
16let his heart be changed from man`s, and let a animal`s heart be given to him; and let seven times pass over him.