Daniel's vision during Belshazzar's reign shows four great beasts from the sea: a lion, bear, leopard with four heads, and a terrible fourth beast with ten horns and a blasphemous little horn. The Ancient of Days takes His throne in fiery judgment, the beasts lose dominion, and one like the Son of Man receives an everlasting kingdom—interpreted as four earthly kingdoms giving way to the eternal reign of the Most High's saints.
Read Daniel Chapter 7 Summary
Original
Characters in This Chapter
Daniel
Faithful Jewish exile who served in Babylonian and Persian courts
Nebuchadnezzar
Babylonian king who had troubling dreams and eventually acknowledged God
Shadrach
One of Daniel's three friends who survived the fiery furnace
Meshach
One of Daniel's three friends who survived the fiery furnace
Abednego
One of Daniel's three friends who survived the fiery furnace
Places in This Chapter
Position in Book
Life in ExileChapters 1-6
Apocalyptic VisionsChapters 7-12
Four beasts, ram and goat, seventy weeks, final conflict and resurrection.
Bible Bites
Written in two languages
The book of Daniel switches languages mid-sentence in chapter 2:4, moving from Hebrew to Aramaic and back to Hebrew in chapter 8. The Aramaic section (2:4-7:28) focuses on Gentile kingdoms, while Hebrew sections address Israel specifically.
Daniel 2:4Half History, Half Prophecy
Daniel's 12 chapters divide into two distinct sections: chapters 1-6 contain historical narratives (including the fiery furnace and lions' den), while chapters 7-12 record apocalyptic visions of future kingdoms. Remarkably, chapters 2-7 were written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew.
Daniel