1 In the first year of Baltasar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream: and the vision of his head was upon his bed: and writing the dream, he comprehended it in few words: and relating the sum of it in short, he said: 2 I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 3 And four great beasts, different one from another, came up out of the sea. 4 The first was like a lioness, and had the wings of an eagle: I beheld till her wings were plucked off, and she was lifted up from the earth, and stood upon her feet as a man, and the heart of a man was given to her. 5 And behold another beast like a bear stood up on one side: and there were three rows in the mouth thereof, and in the teeth thereof, and thus they said to it: Arise, devour much flesh. 6 After this I beheld, and lo, another like a leopard, and it had upon it four wings as of a fowl, and the beast had four heads, and power was given to it. 7 After this I beheld in the vision of the night, and lo, a fourth beast, terrible and wonderful, and exceeding strong, it had great iron teeth, eating and breaking in pieces, and treading down the rest with its feet: and it was unlike to the other beasts which I had seen before it, and had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and behold another little horn sprung out of the midst of them: and three of the first horns were plucked up at the presence thereof: and behold eyes like the eyes of a man were in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things. 9 I beheld till thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days sat: his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool: his throne like flames of fire: the wheels of it like a burning fire. 10 A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him: the judgment sat, and the books were opened. 11 I beheld because of the voice of the great words which that horn spoke: and I saw that the beast was slain, and the body thereof was destroyed, and given to the fire to be burnt: 12 And that the power of the other beasts was taken away: and that times of life were appointed them for a time, and time. 13 I beheld therefore in the vision of the night, and lo, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the Ancient of days: and they presented him before him. 14 And he gave him power, and glory, and a kingdom: and all peoples, tribes and tongues shall serve him: his power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away: and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed. 15 My spirit trembled, I Daniel was affrighted at these things, and the visions of my head troubled me. 16 I went near to one of them that stood by, and asked the truth of him concerning all these things, and he told me the interpretation of the words, and instructed me: 17 These four great beasts are four kingdoms, which shall arise out of the earth. 18 But the saints of the most high God shall take the kingdom: and they shall possess the kingdom for ever and ever. 19 After this I would diligently learn concerning the fourth beast. which was very different from all, and exceeding terrible: his teeth and claws were of iron: he devoured and broke in pieces, and the rest he stamped upon with his feet: 20 And concerning the ten horns that he had on his head: and concerning the other that came up, before which three horns fell: and of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and was greater than the rest. 21 I beheld, and lo, that horn made war against the saints, and prevailed over them, 22 Till the Ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of the most High, and the time came, and the saints obtained the kingdom. 23 And thus he said: The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be greater than all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24 And the ten horns of the same kingdom, shall be ten kings: and another shall rise up after them, and he shall be mightier than the former, and he shall bring down three kings. 25 And he shall speak words against the High One, and shall crush the saints of the most High: and he shall think himself able to change times and laws, and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time. 26 And judgment shall sit, that his power may be taken away, and be broken in pieces, and perish even to the end. 27 And that the kingdom, and power, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, may be given to the people of the saints of the most High: whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve him, and shall obey him. 28 Hitherto is the end of the word. I Daniel was much troubled with my thoughts, and my countenance was changed in me: but I kept the word in my heart.
Daniel · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Daniel 7 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (28)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Daniel 5:1; Jeremiah 23:28; Amos 3:7; Daniel 4:5; Daniel 1:17
- 2 Revelation 7:1; Revelation 17:15
- 3 Revelation 13:1; Daniel 7:17; Daniel 2:32–33; Daniel 7:4–8; Ezekiel 19:3–8
- 4 Jeremiah 4:7; Isaiah 14:13–17; Daniel 5:18–23; Ezekiel 17:3; Habakkuk 1:6–8
- 5 Daniel 2:39; Jeremiah 50:21–32; Hosea 13:8; 2 Kings 2:24; Isaiah 13:17–18
- 6 Revelation 13:2; Daniel 11:3–20; Daniel 8:20–22; Daniel 2:39; Hosea 13:7
- 7 Revelation 13:1; Revelation 12:3; Revelation 17:12; Daniel 7:23–24; Daniel 7:19–20
- 8 Revelation 13:5–6; Revelation 13:1; Psalm 12:3; Revelation 13:11–13; Revelation 9:7
- 9 Revelation 1:14; Mark 9:3; Daniel 7:13; Matthew 17:2; Daniel 7:22
- 10 Isaiah 30:27; Deuteronomy 33:2; Revelation 20:11–15; Psalm 50:3; Revelation 5:11
- 11 Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10; Daniel 7:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 18:8
- 12 Daniel 8:7
- 13 Matthew 26:64; Revelation 1:7; Luke 21:27; Revelation 14:14; Matthew 24:30
- 14 Revelation 11:15; Daniel 7:27; Daniel 2:44; John 3:35; 1 Corinthians 15:24–28
- 15 Daniel 7:28; Jeremiah 17:16; Romans 9:2–3; 2 Peter 1:14; Daniel 2:1
- 16 Revelation 7:13–14; Zechariah 2:3; Daniel 7:10; Revelation 5:5; Daniel 12:5–6
- 17 Revelation 13:11; Daniel 7:3–4; Psalm 17:14; John 18:36; Revelation 13:1
- 18 Daniel 7:27; Isaiah 60:12–14; Revelation 5:10; Revelation 20:4; Revelation 2:26–27
- 19 Daniel 7:7; Daniel 2:40–43
- 20 Daniel 7:8; Daniel 7:23; Daniel 7:11; Daniel 8:9–11; Daniel 11:36–37
- 21 Daniel 12:7; Revelation 17:14; Daniel 8:24; Revelation 13:5–18; Revelation 12:3–4
- 22 Daniel 7:18; Revelation 20:4; Revelation 5:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 14:8–20
- 23 Daniel 7:7; Daniel 2:40; Luke 2:1
- 24 Daniel 7:20; Daniel 11:36; Revelation 13:1; Revelation 17:3; Revelation 17:16–18
- 25 Daniel 12:7; Revelation 12:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:5–11; Revelation 12:6
- 26 Revelation 20:10–11; Revelation 11:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Daniel 7:10–11; Daniel 7:22
- 27 Psalm 72:11; Revelation 11:15; Luke 1:33; Daniel 7:14; Psalm 22:27
- 28 Luke 2:19; Luke 2:51; Daniel 4:19; Daniel 7:15; Daniel 12:9
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For the Scripture saith, "Ten thousand times ten thousand stood around Him, and thousands of thousands ministered unto Him, and cried, Holy, holy, holy, [is] the Lord of Sabaoth; the whole creation is full of His glory." And let us therefore, conscientiously gathering together in harmony, cry to Him earnestly, as with one mouth, that we may be made partakers …
The Lord, strong and mighty." And how also He should come again out of heaven with glory, hear what was spoken in reference to this by the prophet Jeremiah. His words are: "Behold, as the Son of man He cometh in the clouds of heaven, and His angels with Him." Chapter LII — Certain fulfilment of prophecy Since, then, we …
And then, again, since there are many, yea, innumerable angels who surround the Creator, as all the prophets acknowledge,--[saying, for instance,] "Ten thousand times ten thousand stood beside Him, and many thousands of thousands ministered unto Him," --then, according to them, the angels of the Pleroma will have as images the angels of the Creator, and the entire creation remains …
… king, who is recognized as Antichrist, and after this the eternal kingdom of the Son of man, that is to say, of Christ, he says, "My spirit was terrified, I Daniel in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me," etc.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… learned them out of the divine Scriptures used in the Church, and chiefly from the prophecy of Daniel just now read; as Gabriel also the Archangel interpreted it, speaking thus: The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall surpass all kingdoms.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)