Daniel 7:1-8 ▼

1 In the first year of the reign of Belshazzar (Bel protect the king) over Babylon (confusion by mixing), Daniel (God is my judge) had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he lay on his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is the summary of his account.

2 Daniel (God is my judge) declared: “In my vision in the night I looked, and suddenly the four winds {ruachah} of heaven were churning up the great sea.

3 Then four great beasts came up out of the sea, each one different from the others:

4 The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man and given the mind of a man.

5 Suddenly another beast appeared, 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. So it was told, ‘Get up and gorge yourself on flesh!’

6 Next, as I watched, suddenly another beast appeared. It was like a leopard, and on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.

7 After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying—dreadful and extremely strong—with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed; then it trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns.

8 While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance.