Daniel’s Vision of the Four Beasts

7 In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream with visions in his mind^(A) as he was lying in his bed. He wrote down the dream,^(B) and here is the summary^[a] of his account. ² Daniel said, “In my vision at night I was watching, and suddenly the four winds of heaven^(C) stirred up the great sea. ³ Four huge beasts^(D) came up from the sea,^(E) each different from the other.

⁴ “The first was like a lion^(F) but had eagle’s wings. I continued watching until its wings were torn off. It was lifted up from the ground, set on its feet like a man, and given a human mind.

⁵ “Suddenly, another beast appeared, a second one, that looked like a bear.^(G) It was raised up on one side, with three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up! Gorge yourself on flesh.’

⁶ “After this, while I was watching, suddenly another beast appeared. It was like a leopard^(H) with four wings of a bird on its back. It had four heads,^(I) and it was given dominion.

⁷ “After this, while I was watching in the night visions, suddenly a fourth beast^(J) appeared, frightening and dreadful, and incredibly strong, with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and it trampled with its feet whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns.^(K)

⁸ “While I was considering the horns, suddenly another horn,^(L) a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. And suddenly in this horn there were eyes like the eyes of a human and a mouth that was speaking arrogantly.^(M)