‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.
Parallel translations
- WEB These great animals, which are four, are four kings, who shall arise out of the earth.
- KJV These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
- BSB ‘These four great beasts are four kings who will arise from the earth.
- NKJV ‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth.
- NLT “These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The four great beasts represent four kings or kingdoms that will rise on the earth. History unfolds under God's sovereign oversight, not blind chance.
Overview
The interpreter explains that the four beasts are four successive kingdoms arising from the earthly, fallen order. Most interpreters identify these with Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, paralleling the statue of chapter 2. The vision assures the faithful that however fearsome earthly empires appear, they are temporary and accountable to the God who sets up and removes rulers.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Dan 7:3–4Four great animals came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
- Ps 17:14from men by your hand, Yahweh, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.
- Rev 13:1Then I stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads, blasphemous names.
- Dan 2:37–40You, O king, are king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory;
- Dan 8:19–22He said, Behold, I will make you know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongs to the appointed time of the end.
- John 18:36Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”
- Rev 13:11I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Daniel sees the stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms, and 'one like a son of man' given everlasting dominion — titles and visions Jesus claims as his own.
How Daniel 7:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.