Daniel 7:3

Daniel 7:3

Vision of the Four Beasts

1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, ^aDaniel had a dream and ^bvisions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling² the main facts.

2 Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.

3 And four great beasts ^acame up from the sea, each different from the other.

4 The first was ^alike a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a ^bman’s heart was given to it.

5 ^a“And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’

6 “After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had ^afour heads, and dominion was given to it.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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beasts—not living animals, as the cherubic four in Revelation 4:7 (for the original is a different word from "beasts," and ought to be there translated, living animals). The cherubic living animals represent redeemed man, combining in himself the highest forms of animal life. But the "beasts" here represent the world powers, in their beast-like, grovelling character. It is on the fundamental harmony between nature and spirit, between the three kingdoms of nature, history, and revelation, that Scripture symbolism rests. The selection of symbols is not arbitrary, but based on the essence of things.

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Daniel 7:3:**

Revelation 1:4
Revelation 11:7
Revelation 12:1
Revelation 13:1

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Daniel 7:4 >>

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