Daniel 7

CHAPTER 7

The Vision of the Four Beasts

¹In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a ^adream and visions in his head as he lay on his bed; then he ^bwrote the dream down and said the ¹following summary of the matter.

²Daniel answered and said, “I was ^alooking in my vision by night, and behold, the ^bfour winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

³“And four great ^abeasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.

⁴“The first was ^alike a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; and a heart of a man was given to it.

⁵“And behold, another beast, a second one in the likeness of a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’

⁶“After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, ^alike a leopard, which had on its ¹back four wings of a bird; the beast also had ^bfour heads, and ²dominion was given to it.

⁷“After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a ^afourth beast, fearsome and terrifying and extraordinarily strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ^bten horns.

⁸“While I was contemplating the horns, behold, ^aanother horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, ¹this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and ^ba mouth speaking great boasts.

The Ancient of Days

⁹“I kept looking

Until ^athrones were set up,

And the Ancient of Days was seated;

His ^bclothing was like white snow

And the ^chair of His head like pure wool.

His ^dthrone was ¹ablaze with fire,

Its ^ewheels were a burning fire.

¹⁰“A river of ^afire was flowing

And coming out from before Him;

^bThousands upon thousands were attending Him,

And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him;

The ^ccourt sat,

And ^dthe books were opened.

¹¹“Then I kept looking because of the sound of the great boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was killed, and its body was destroyed and given to the ^aburning ¹fire.

¹²“As for the rest of the beasts, their ¹dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was given to them for an appointed season of time.

The Son of Man

¹³“I kept looking in the night visions,

And behold, with the clouds of heaven

One like a ^aSon of Man was coming,

And He came up to the Ancient of Days

And came near before Him.

¹⁴“And to Him was given ^1adominion,

Glory, and ^ba kingdom,

^cThat all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue

Might serve Him.

^dHis ²dominion is an everlasting ³dominion

Which will not be taken away;

^eAnd His kingdom is one

Which will not be destroyed.

The Vision Interpreted

¹⁵“As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed ¹within me, and the ^avisions of my head kept ^balarming me.

¹⁶“I came near to one of those who were ^astanding by and began seeking out from him the ¹exact meaning of all this. So he ^bsaid it to me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:

¹⁷‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.

¹⁸‘But the ^1asaints of the Highest One will ^breceive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, ²for all ages to come.’

¹⁹“Then I desired to know the ¹exact meaning of the ^afourth beast, which was different from all ²the others, extraordinarily fearsome, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet,

²⁰and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth speaking great boasts and ¹which was larger in appearance than its associates.

²¹“I kept looking, and that horn was ^awaging war with the saints and overcoming them

²²until the Ancient of Days came and ^ajudgment was given in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the season arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

²³“Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.

²⁴‘As for the ^aten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will make low three kings.

²⁵‘He will ^aspeak words against the ^bMost High and ^cwear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make ^dchanges in seasons and in law; and ¹they will be given into his hand for a ^2etime, ³times, and half a ⁴time.

²⁶‘But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be ^ataken away, ¹annihilated and destroyed ²forever.

²⁷‘Then the ^1areign, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an ^beverlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will ^cserve and obey Him.’

²⁸“¹At this point the matter of this revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were ^agreatly alarming me, and the ²splendor of my face changed, but I ^bkept the matter in my heart.”