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In the firstyear of Belshazzarking of BabylonDanielsaw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dreamdown and related the following summary of it.
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"The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I keptlookinguntil* its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a humanmind also was given to it.
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"And behold, anotherbeast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on oneside, and threeribs were in its mouthbetween its teeth; and thus they said to it, 'Arise, devourmuchmeat!'
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"Afterthis I keptlooking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its backfourwings of a bird; the beast also had fourheads, and dominion was given to it.
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"Afterthis I keptlooking in the nightvisions, and behold, a fourthbeast, dreadful and terrifying and extremelystrong; and it had largeironteeth. It devoured and crushed and trampleddown the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had tenhorns.
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"While I was contemplating the horns, behold, anotherhorn, a littleone, came up among them, and three of the firsthorns were pulled out by the rootsbefore* it; and behold, thishorn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouthutteringgreat boasts.
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"I keptlookingUntil*thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Daystook His seat; His vesture was like whitesnow And the hair of His head like purewool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burningfire.
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"A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standingbefore Him; The courtsat, And the books were opened.
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"Then I keptlookingbecause of the sound of the boastfulwordswhich the horn was speaking; I keptlookinguntil* the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burningfire.
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"I keptlooking in the nightvisions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presentedbefore Him.
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"And to Him was givendominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlastingdominionWhich will not passaway; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.
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"I approachedone of those who were standing by and began asking him the exactmeaning of allthis. So he told me and madeknown to me the interpretation of these things:
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"Then I desired to know the exactmeaning of the fourthbeast, which was different from all the others, exceedinglydreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampleddown the remainder with its feet,
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and the meaning of the tenhorns that were on its head and the other horn whichcame up, and before* which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouthutteringgreat boasts and which was larger in appearancethan its associates.
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until* the Ancient of Dayscame and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the HighestOne, and the timearrived when the saintstookpossession of the kingdom.
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"Thus he said: 'The fourthbeast will be a fourthkingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the wholeearth and tread it down and crush it.
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'As for the tenhorns, out of this kingdomtenkings will arise; and another will ariseafter them, and he will be different from the previousones and will subduethreekings.
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'He will speak out against the MostHigh and weardown the saints of the HighestOne, and he will intend to makealterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
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'Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdomsunder the wholeheaven will be given to the people of the saints of the HighestOne; His kingdom will be an everlastingkingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.'