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Daniel’s Vision of Four Beasts and the Son of Man

In the first year of Belshazzar the king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions[a] of his head as he lay on his bed; then he wrote down the dream and the summary[b] of the words as follows:[c] Daniel explained[d] and said, “I was looking in my vision in the night, and look, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, differing from one another.[e] The first was like a lion and had[f] the wings of an eagle. I was watching until its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth and it was raised on its feet like a human, and a human heart was given to it. And look, another beast, a second one, looking like a bear. And it was raised up on one side and three tusks[g] were in its mouth between its teeth, and so it was told,[h] “Arise, eat much flesh!” After this I was watching and look, another beast like a leopard; it had four wings[i] of a bird on its back, and the beast had[j] four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this in the visions of the night I was looking and there was a fourth beast, terrifying and frightful and exceedingly strong, and it had[k] great iron teeth,[l] and it was devouring and crushing, and it stamped the remainder[m] with its feet; and it was different from all the other beasts that preceded it[n] and it had ten horns.[o] I was considering the horns, and look, another little horn came up among[p] them, and three of the earlier horns were rooted out[q] from before it, and there were eyes like the eyes of a human[r] in this horn and also a mouth that was speaking boastfully.

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Footnotes

  1. Daniel 7:1 Or “the visions”
  2. Daniel 7:1 Literally “head”
  3. Daniel 7:1 Literally “saying”
  4. Daniel 7:2 Literally “answered”
  5. Daniel 7:3 Literally “this from this”
  6. Daniel 7:4 Literally “for him/it”
  7. Daniel 7:5 Or “ribs”
  8. Daniel 7:5 Literally “they were saying”
  9. Daniel 7:6 Literally “and there were to it four wings”
  10. Daniel 7:6 Literally “to the beast”
  11. Daniel 7:7 Literally “were to it”
  12. Daniel 7:7 Literally “teeth of iron for it great”
  13. Daniel 7:7 Or “residue”
  14. Daniel 7:7 Literally “that preceding her/it”
  15. Daniel 7:7 Literally “and ten horns for her/it”
  16. Daniel 7:8 Literally “between”
  17. Daniel 7:8 Literally “dehorned”
  18. Daniel 7:8 Or “humankind”

Daniel’s Dream of Four Beasts

In the first year of Belshazzar(A) king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions(B) passed through his mind(C) as he was lying in bed.(D) He wrote(E) down the substance of his dream.

Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven(F) churning up the great sea. Four great beasts,(G) each different from the others, came up out of the sea.

“The first was like a lion,(H) and it had the wings of an eagle.(I) I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it.

“And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’(J)

“After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard.(K) And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.

“After that, in my vision(L) at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron(M) teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled(N) underfoot whatever was left.(O) It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.(P)

“While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little(Q) one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being(R) and a mouth that spoke boastfully.(S)

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