“‘But leave its stump!

Leave its roots

In the ground!

Let it be bound

With a band

Of iron,

As well as bronze,

In the tender grass

Of the field.

Let him be bathed

With the dew of heaven!

Let his lot be

With the animals

Of the field

In the grass

Of the earth!

Let his mind

Be changed

From that of a human!

Let the mind

Of an animal

Be given to him!

Let seven times

Pass over him!’”

This holy watcher or angel told the king to leave the stump of the tree with its roots in the ground. They were to bind this stump with an iron and bronze band in a grassy field, so that heavenly dew would fall on it. This tree has suddenly become a ‘he,’ a masculine personality, that will have to suffer like the animals of the grass fields. The human mind of this tree stump was to be changed to that of an animal. This was to last at least 7 years or pass over him 7 times.