Daniel 7:3

3 And four great beasts [were] coming up from the sea, differing {from one another}.

Daniel 7:3 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 7:3

And four great beasts came up from the sea
Which are afterwards interpreted of four kings or kingdoms, ( Daniel 7:17 ) , which rose up in the world, not at once, but successively, and out of the sea or world, through the commotions and agitations of it; and these are the four monarchies, Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman; compared to "beasts", because of the rapine and violence, cruelty, oppression, and tyranny, by which they were obtained, set up, supported, and maintained; and to "great ones", being not like single separate kingdoms, as the kingdom of Israel, and the like, but consisting of many kingdoms and nations, and so like beasts of an enormous size: diverse one from another;
in their situation, language, manner, strength, and power; hence expressed by divers sorts of beasts, as the lion, bear, leopard; as in Nebuchadnezzar's dream by different metals, gold, silver, brass, and iron.

Daniel 7:3 In-Context

1 In the first year of Belshazzar the king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head [as he lay] on his bed; then he wrote down the dream [and] [the] {summary} of [the] words {as follows}:

2 Daniel {explained} and said, "I was looking in my vision in the night, and look, the four winds of heaven were stirring [up] the great sea.

3 And four great beasts [were] coming up from the sea, differing {from one another}.

4 The first [was] like [a] lion and {had} [the] wings of an eagle. I was watching until its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth and it was raised on [its] feet like a human, and a human heart was given to it.

5 And look, another beast, a second one, looking like a bear. And it was raised up on one side and three tusks [were] in its mouth between its teeth, and so {it was told}, "Arise, eat much flesh!"

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "this from this"