Daniel’s Dream of Four Beasts

7 In the first year of Belshazzarl king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visionsm passed through his mindn as he was lying in bed.o He wrotep down the substance of his dream.

2 Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heavenq churning up the great sea. 3 Four great beasts,r each different from the others, came up out of the sea.

4 “The first was like a lion,s and it had the wings of an eagle.t I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it.

5 “And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’u

6 “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard.v And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.

7 “After that, in my visionw at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large ironx teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampledy underfoot whatever was left.z It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.a

8 “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a littleb one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human beingc and a mouth that spoke boastfully.d