After that Nebuchadnezer hath declared that Daniel was the preacher of Gods iudgement vnto him which was at hand, now he addeth how and after what sort God dyd execute that iudgement which he had pronounced by hys Prophet. He speaketh in the third person: but we know how often the chaunging of the person is vsed wyth the Hebrues and Chaldees. Furthermore Daniel did not write the saying of the kyng, but did onely cōprehend the summe. So it commeth to passe that sometymes he bringeth in the kyng to speake, & sometymes he speaketh in his owne per∣son. There is no cause therefore why this diuersitie should trouble vs, for it doth nothing obscure the sense.
In ye first verse Nebuchadnezer teacheth that that dreame which Daniel expounded was not in vayne. So he admo∣nisheth by the effect that followed, that it was a heauenly o∣racle: for other dreames (as we do know) do vanish away. But because God did accomplish at hys due tyme that which he had shewed to the kyng of Babylon by dreame, hereby it appeareth that it was no trifling dreame, but a certayne and sure reuelation of ye punishment which should shortly come vpon the kyng. And the manner also is expres∣sed. Daniel saith, that after a yeare was ended, the king did walke in hys palace & boasted of hys glory & maiestie, & the same moment a voyce came downe frō heauē wherby thys was repeted which he heard before in the dreame. After∣ward he declareth how he was cast forth from the compa∣ny of men and remayned a long tyme wyth brute beastes, so that he differed nothing from the beastes.
Some do thinke that Nebuchadnezer was strickē wyth repentance when he was admonished of the wrath of God, and that for thys cause the tyme of hys punishment was de∣ferred. But I thinke not so. I thinke rather that God stay∣ed hys hand vnto the end of the yeare, that the pride of the