The Vision of the Four Beasts

7 In the first year of the reign of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel dreamed a dream, receiving visions in his mind while in bed, after which he recorded the dream, relating this summary of events.

² Daniel said, “I observed the vision during the night. Look! The four winds of the skies were stirring up the Mediterranean^[a] Sea. ³ Four magnificent animals were rising from the sea, each different from the other. ⁴ The first resembled a lion, but it had eagles’ wings. I continued to watch until its wings were plucked off, it was lifted up off the ground, and it was forced to stand on two feet like a man. A human soul^[b] was imparted to it.

⁵ “Then look!—a second animal resembling a bear followed it.^[c] It was raised up on one side, with three ribs held between the teeth in its mouth. Therefore people kept telling it, ‘Get up and devour lots of meat!’

⁶ “After this, I continued to watch—and look!—there was another one, resembling a leopard with four birds’ wings on its back. The animal also had four heads, and authority was imparted to it.

⁷ “After this, I continued to observe the night visions. And look!—there was a fourth awe-inspiring, terrifying, and viciously strong animal! It had large, iron teeth. It devoured and crushed things,^[d] and trampled under its feet whatever remained. Different from all of the other previous animals, it had ten horns.

⁸ “While I was thinking about the horns—look—another horn, this time^[e] a little one, grew up among them. Three of the first horns were yanked up by their roots right in front of it. Look! It had eyes like those of a human being and a mouth that boasted with audacious claims.”