---
title: Daniel 4:25
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/daniel-4-25/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/daniel-4-25.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Daniel 4:25
testament: OT
section: Prophets
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Daniel 4:25

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will feed on grass like an ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.

## JW Usage

The Watchtower treats Daniel 4:25 as having two layers: the near- term fulfilment in Nebuchadnezzar's personal madness, and a greater fulfilment in the "Gentile Times" running from 607 BCE to October 1914. The "seven times" are converted to 2,520 years via a day-year formula.

## Protestant Usage

Daniel 4:25 gives the text's own interpretation in Daniel's own words: "they will drive *you* from among men, and your dwelling will be with the wild beasts of the field, and they will feed *you* vegetation like bulls; and with the dew of the heavens *you* will be moistened, and seven times will pass over *you*, until you know that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind, and that he gives it to whomever he wants to." Every pronoun is second person singular — addressed to Nebuchadnezzar personally. The subject is the king's own humiliation until he acknowledges God's sovereignty. The chapter records the fulfilment within the king's lifetime (verses 28-37). Any claim to a 2,520-year secondary fulfilment must be imported from outside the text, and nothing in Daniel, the Gospels, the Epistles, or early Christian literature makes that import.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [1914 Dating Error](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1914-dating.md) — 587 vs 607 BCE [Eschatology]