Albert Barnes Commentary Daniel 4:14

"He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off its branches, shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from its branches." — Daniel 4:14 (ASV)

He cried aloud - Margin, as in the Chaldee, "with might." That is, he cried with a strong voice.

Hew down the tree - This command does not appear to have been addressed to any particular individuals who were to execute the commission, but it is a strong and significant way of saying that it would certainly be done. Or possibly, the command may be understood as addressed to his fellow-watchers (Daniel 4:17), or to orders of angels over whom this one presided.

And cut off his branches ... - The idea here, and in the subsequent part of the verse, is that the tree was to be utterly cut up, and all its glory and beauty destroyed. It was first to be felled, then its limbs chopped off, then these were to be stripped of their foliage, and then the fruit which it bore was to be scattered.

All this was strikingly significant as applied to the monarch, indicating some awful calamity that was to occur to him after he was brought down from his throne. A process of humiliation and desolation was to continue, as if the tree, when cut down, was not allowed to lie quietly in its grandeur upon the earth.

Let the beasts get away, etc. That is, it would cease to provide shade for the beasts and a home for the birds.

The purposes which it had served in the days of its glory would come to an end.