Daniel 7:1-18

Legacy Standard Bible

The Vision of the Four Beasts

7 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a ^(A)dream and visions in his head as he lay on his bed; then he ^(B)wrote the dream down and said the ^[a]following summary of the matter. ² Daniel answered and said, “I was ^(C)looking in my vision by night, and behold, the ^(D)four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. ³ And four great ^(E)beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. ⁴ The first was ^(F)like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; and a heart of a man was given to it. ⁵ And behold, another beast, a second one in the likeness of a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’ ⁶ After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, ^(G)like a leopard, which had on its ^[b]back four wings of a bird; the beast also had ^(H)four heads, and ^[c]dominion was given to it. ⁷ After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a ^(I)fourth beast, fearsome and terrifying and extraordinarily strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ^(J)ten horns. ⁸ While I was contemplating the horns, behold, ^(K)another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, ^[d]this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and ^(L)a mouth speaking great boasts.

The Ancient of Days

¹¹ Then I kept looking because of the sound of the great boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was killed, and its body was destroyed and given to the ^(V)burning ^[f]fire. ¹² As for the rest of the beasts, their ^[g]dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was given to them for an appointed season of time.

The Son of Man

The Vision Interpreted

¹⁵ “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed ^[k]within me, and the ^(AC)visions of my head kept ^(AD)alarming me. ¹⁶ I came near to one of those who were ^(AE)standing by and began seeking out from him the ^[l]exact meaning of all this. So he ^(AF)said it to me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: ¹⁷ ‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. ¹⁸ But the ^[m](AG)saints of the Highest One will ^(AH)receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, ^[n]for all ages to come.’