Daniel 4:12-16

‘Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, And in it was food for all. The animals of the field found shade under it, And the birds of the sky lived in its branches, And all living creatures fed from it.

‘I was looking in the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, an angelic watcher, a holy one, descended from heaven.

‘He shouted out and spoke as follows: “Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, Shake off its foliage and scatter its fruit; Let the animals flee from under it And the birds from its branches.

“Yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground, But with a band of iron and bronze around it In the new grass of the field; And let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, And let him share with the animals in the grass of the earth.

“Let his mind change from that of a human And let an animal’s mind be given to him, And let seven periods of time pass over him.