Daniel 7:1–18

¹In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream; he told the sum of the matters. ²Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heavens broke forth upon the great sea. ³And four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from another. ⁴The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till its wings were plucked; and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon two feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. ⁵And behold, another beast, a second, like unto a bear, and it raised up itself on one side; and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and they said thus unto it: Arise, devour much flesh. ⁶After this I saw, and behold, another, like a leopard, and it had four wings of a bird upon its back; and the beast had four heads; and dominion was given to it. ⁷After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and exceeding strong; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. ⁸I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another, a little horn, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

⁹I beheld till thrones were set, and the Ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was flames of fire, and its wheels burning fire. ¹⁰A stream of fire issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. ¹¹I beheld therefore, because of the voice of the great words that the horn spoke; I beheld till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given up to be burned with fire. ¹²As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away; but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. ¹³I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man, and he came up even to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. ¹⁴And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

¹⁵As for me Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. ¹⁶I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the certainty of all this. And he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things: ¹⁷These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, that shall arise out of the earth. ¹⁸But the saints of the most high places shall receive the kingdom, and they shall possess the kingdom for ever, even to the ages of ages.