Daniel 7:1–18

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.’