Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Daniel 7:3 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Da 7:3 |
Strong Concordance |
And four [0703] great [07260] beasts [02423] came up [05559] from [04481] the sea [03221], diverse [08133] one [01668] from [04481] another [01668]. |
| |
King James |
And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| beasts--not living animals, as the cherubic four in Rev 4:7 (for the original is a different word from "beasts," and ought to be there translated, living animals). The cherubic living animals represent redeemed man, combining in himself the highest forms of animal life. But the "beasts" here represent the world powers, in their beast-like, grovelling character. It is on the fundamental harmony between nature and spirit, between the three kingdoms of nature, history, and revelation, that Scripture symbolism rests. The selection of symbols is not arbitrary, but based on the essence of things. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
And four great beasts came up from the sea - Not at once, but in succession. See the following verses. Their particular form is described in the subsequent verses. The design of mentioning them here, as coming up from, the sea, seems to have been to show that this succession of kingdoms sprang from the agitations and commotions among the nations represented by the heaving ocean. It is not uncommon for the prophets to make use of animals to represent or symbolize kingdoms and nations - usually by some animal which was in a manner peculiar to the land that was symbolized, or which abounded there. Thus in Isa 27:1, leviathan, or the dragon, or crocodile, is used to represent Babylon. See the note at that passage. In Eze 29:3-5, the dragon or the crocodile of the Nile is put for Pharaoh; in Eze 32:2, Pharaoh is compared to a young lion, and to a whale in the seas. In Psa 74:13-14, the kingdom of Egypt is compared to the dragon and the leviathan.
So on ancient coins, animals are often used as emblems of kingdoms, as it may be added, the lion and the unicorn represent Great Britain now, and the eagle the United States. It is well remarked by Lengerke (in loc.), that when the prophets design to represent kingdoms that are made up of other kingdoms, or that are combined by being brought by conquest under the power of others, they do this, not by any single animal as actually found in nature, but by monsters - fabulous beings that are compounded of others, in which the peculiar qualities of different animals are brought together - as in the case of the lion with eagle's wings. Thus in Rev 13:1, the Romish power is represented by a beast coming out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, Compare it. Ezra (Apocry.) 11:1, where an eagle is represented as coming from the sea with twelve feathered wings and three heads. As an illustration of the attempts made in the apocryphal writings to imitate the prophets, the whole of chapter 11 and chapter 12 of the second book of Ezra may be referred to.
Diverse one from another - Though they all came up from the same abyss, yet they differed from each other - denoting, doubtless, that though the successive kingdoms referred to would all rise out of the nations represented by the agitated sea, yet that in important respects they would differ from each other. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Four great beasts - That is, four great monarchies, great, in comparison of particular kingdoms; beasts for their tyrannical oppressions. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Four great beasts came up from the sea - The term sea, in Hebrew ים yam, from המה hamah, to be tumultuous, agitated, etc., seems to be used here to point out the then known terraqueous globe, because of its generally agitated state; and the four winds striving, point out those predatory wars that prevailed almost universally among men, from the days of Nimrod, the founder of the Assyrian or Babylonish monarchy, down to that time, and in the end gave birth to the four great monarchies which are the subject of this vision.
Diverse one from another - The people were different; the laws and customs different; and the administration of each differently executed. |
7 And [2532] the first [4413] beast [2226] was like [3664] a lion [3023], and [2532] the second [1208] beast [2226] like [3664] a calf [3448], and [2532] the third [5154] beast [2226] had [2192] a face [4383] as [5613] a man [444], and [2532] the fourth [5067] beast [2226] was like [3664] a flying [4072] eagle [105].
1 And [2532] I stood [2476] upon [1909] the sand [285] of the sea [2281], and [2532] saw [1492] a beast [2342] rise up [305] out of [1537] the sea [2281], having [2192] seven [2033] heads [2776] and [2532] ten [1176] horns [2768], and [2532] upon [1909] his [846] horns [2768] ten [1176] crowns [1238], and [2532] upon [1909] his [846] heads [2776] the name [3686] of blasphemy [988].
13 Thou didst divide [06565] the sea [03220] by thy strength [05797]: thou brakest [07665] the heads [07218] of the dragons [08577] in the waters [04325].
14 Thou brakest [07533] the heads [07218] of leviathan [03882] in pieces, and gavest [05414] him to be meat [03978] to the people [05971] inhabiting the wilderness [06728].
2 Son [01121] of man [0120], take up [05375] a lamentation [07015] for Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], and say [0559] unto him, Thou art like [01819] a young lion [03715] of the nations [01471], and thou art as a whale [08577] [08565] in the seas [03220]: and thou camest forth [01518] with thy rivers [05104], and troubledst [01804] the waters [04325] with thy feet [07272], and fouledst [07515] their rivers [05104].
3 Speak [01696], and say [0559], Thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], the great [01419] dragon [08577] that lieth [07257] in the midst [08432] of his rivers [02975], which hath said [0559], My river [02975] is mine own, and I have made [06213] it for myself.
4 But I will put [05414] hooks [02397] [02397] in thy jaws [03895], and I will cause the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975] to stick [01692] unto thy scales [07193], and I will bring thee up [05927] out of the midst [08432] of thy rivers [02975], and all the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975] shall stick [01692] unto thy scales [07193].
5 And I will leave [05203] thee thrown into the wilderness [04057], thee and all the fish [01710] of thy rivers [02975]: thou shalt fall [05307] upon the open [06440] fields [07704]; thou shalt not be brought together [0622], nor gathered [06908]: I have given [05414] thee for meat [0402] to the beasts [02416] of the field [0776] and to the fowls [05775] of the heaven [08064].
1 In that day [03117] the LORD [03068] with his sore [07186] and great [01419] and strong [02389] sword [02719] shall punish [06485] leviathan [03882] the piercing [01281] serpent [05175], even leviathan [03882] that crooked [06129] serpent [05175]; and he shall slay [02026] the dragon [08577] that is in the sea [03220].