Daniel 4:22

you, O king, are that tree! For you have become great and strong; your greatness has grown to reach the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Daniel speaks to King Nebuchadnezzar while interpreting the dream’s central symbol. He delivers this identification immediately after describing the tree’s vast foliage and provision in the preceding verse.

The words — The phrase אַנְתְּ ה֣וּא ('an.tah hu') literally translates "you are it," directly equating the monarch with the dream’s tree. The verbs רְבַ֖ית and וּ/תְקֵ֑פְתְּ (re.Vait, u./te.Ke.fet) denote the king’s rapid expansion in greatness and strength.

The thread — This direct royal identification appears in 2 Samuel 12:7 when Nathan confronts David, and in Daniel 2:37 when Daniel acknowledges Nebuchadnezzar’s divinely granted sovereignty. Jeremiah 27:6 similarly grounds earthly dominion in God’s placement of authority under Nebuchadnezzar.

Why it lands — The text states that the king’s power has reached the sky and spans the earth before the watcher’s command to cut it down. It requires the reader to acknowledge that human authority, however expansive, remains a temporary construct subject to divine measurement and intervention.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

אַנְתְּ'an.tah[is] you ה֣וּאhu'it מַלְכָּ֔אmal.Ka/'king/ O דִּ֥יdiwho רְבַ֖יתre.Vaityou have grown great וּתְקֵ֑פְתְּu./te.Ke.fetand/ you have grown strong וּרְבוּתָ֤ךְu./re.vu.Ta/khand/ greatness/ your רְבָת֙re.Vatit has grown great וּמְטָ֣תu./me.Tatand/ it has reached לִשְׁמַיָּ֔אli/sh.mai.Ya/'to/ heavens/ the וְשָׁלְטָנָ֖ךְve./shal.ta.Na/khand/ dominion/ your לְס֥וֹףle./Sof[is] to/ [the] end אַרְעָֽא׃'ar.'A/'earth/ the

King James Version

It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.

Cross-references

2 Samuel 12:7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
Daniel 2:37 You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength, and glory.
Jeremiah 27:6 So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him.
Genesis 11:4 “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”
Genesis 28:12 And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.
Psalms 36:5 Your loving devotion, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds.
Psalms 108:4 For Your loving devotion extends beyond the heavens, and Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Daniel 5:18 As for you, O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness, glory and honor.
Matthew 14:4 because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
Revelation 18:5 For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.