Vision of the Four Beasts
1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon,Daniel had a dream andvisions of his headwhileon his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.
2 Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.
3 And four great beastscame up from the sea, each different from the other.
4 The firstwaslike a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and aman’s heart was given to it.
5 “And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, andhadthree ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’
6 “After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also hadfour heads, and dominion was given to it.
7 “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold,a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. Itwasdifferent from all the beasts thatwerebefore it,and it had ten horns.
8 I was considering the horns, andthere was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn,wereeyes like the eyesof a man,and a mouth speaking pompous words.
Vision of the Ancient of Days
9 “Iwatched till thrones were put in place,
# Andthe Ancient of Days was seated;
# His garmentwaswhite as snow,
And the hair of His headwaslike pure wool.
His thronewasa fiery flame,
# Its wheels a burning fire;
10 A fiery stream issued
And came forth from before Him.
# A thousand thousands ministered to Him;
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
# The court was seated,
And the books were opened.
11 “I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking;I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
12 As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
13 “I was watching in the night visions,
# And behold,Onelike the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
# That allpeoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
# His dominionisan everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdomtheone
Which shall not be destroyed.
Daniel’s Visions Interpreted
15 “I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit withinmybody, and the visions of my head troubled me.
16 I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:
17 ‘Those great beasts, which are four,arefour kingswhicharise out of the earth.
18 Butthe saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’
19 “Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful,withits teeth of iron and its nails of bronze,whichdevoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet;
20 and the ten horns thatwereon its head, and the otherhornwhich came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearancewasgreater than his fellows.
21 “I was watching;and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them,
22 until the Ancient of Days came,and a judgment was madeinfavorof the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.
23 “Thus he said:
‘The fourth beast shall be
# A fourth kingdom on earth,
Which shall be different from allotherkingdoms,
And shall devour the whole earth,
Trample it and break it in pieces.
24 The ten hornsareten kings
Whoshall arise from this kingdom.
And another shall rise after them;
He shall be different from the firstones,
And shall subdue three kings.
25 He shall speakpompouswords against the Most High,
# Shallpersecute the saints of the Most High,
# And shallintend to change times and law.
# Thenthesaintsshall be given into his hand
# For a time and times and half a time.
26 ‘Butthe court shall be seated,
# And they shalltake away his dominion,
To consume and destroyitforever.
27 Then thekingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
# His kingdomisan everlasting kingdom,
# And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’
28 “Thisisthe end of the account. As for me, Daniel,my thoughts greatly troubled me, and my countenance changed; but Ikept the matter in my heart.”