Daniel 7:1

1 In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a sweven, either a dream. Forsooth he wrote the vision of his head in his bed, and the dream, and comprehended in short word; (In the first year of Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream. And he wrote down the vision in his head, the dream that he had on his bed, and recorded it in a few words;)

Daniel 7:1 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 7:1

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon
Daniel having finished the historical part of his book, and committed to writing what was necessary concerning himself and his three companions, and concerning Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius the Mede, proceeds to the prophetic part, and goes back to the first year of Belshazzar's reign, seventeen years before his death, and the fall of the Babylonish monarchy last mentioned; for so long Belshazzar reigned, according to Josephus ^F21; and with which agrees the canon of Ptolemy, who ascribes so many years to the reign of Nabonadius, the same, with Belshazzar: he began to reign, according to Bishop Usher ^F23, Dean Prideaux ^F24, and Mr, Whiston ^F25, in the year of the world 3449 A.M., and 555 B.C.; and in the first year of his reign Daniel had the dream of the four monarchies, as follows: Daniel had a dream:
as Nebuchadnezzar before had, concerning the same things, the four monarchies of the world, and the kingdom of Christ, only represented in a different manner: or, "saw a dream" ^F26; in his dream he had a vision, and objects were presented to his fancy as if he really saw them, as follows: and visions of his head came upon his bed;
as he lay upon his bed, and deep sleep was fallen on him, things in a visionary way were exhibited to him very wonderful and surprising, and which made strong impressions upon him: then he wrote the dream:
awaking out of his sleep, and perfectly remembering the dream he had dreamed, and recollecting the several things he had seen in it; that they might not be lost, but transmitted to posterity for their use and benefit, he immediately committed them to writing: and told the sum of the matters;
the whole of what he had dreamt and seen; or however the sum and substance of it, the more principal parts of it, the most interesting things in it, and of the greatest importance: when it was daylight, and he rose from his bed, and went out of his chamber, he called his friends together, and told them by word of mouth what he had seen in his dream the night past; or read what he had written of it, which was as follows:

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Antiqu. Jud. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 4.
F23 Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3449.
F24 Connexion part. 1. p. 114.
F25 Chronological Tables, cent. 10.
F26 (hzx Mlx) "somnium vidit". V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator

Daniel 7:1 In-Context

1 In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a sweven, either a dream. Forsooth he wrote the vision of his head in his bed, and the dream, and comprehended in short word; (In the first year of Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream. And he wrote down the vision in his head, the dream that he had on his bed, and recorded it in a few words;)

2 and he touched shortly the sentence, and said, I saw in my vision in (the) night, and lo! four winds of heaven fought in the midst of the great sea. (yea, he touched briefly upon it, and said, I saw in my vision in the night, and lo! the four winds of the heavens fought in the midst of the Great Sea.)

3 And four great beasts, diverse betwixt themselves, went up from the sea.

4 The first beast was as a lioness, and had wings of an eagle. I beheld till the wings thereof were pulled away, and it was taken away from [the] earth, and it stood as a man on the feet, and the heart thereof was given to it. (The first beast was like a lioness, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were pulled off, and it was lifted up from the ground, and it stood upon its feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it.)

5 And lo! another beast, like a bear in part, stood, and three orders were in the mouth thereof, and three princes in the teeth thereof (And lo! another beast, like a bear in part, stood up, and it had three ribs in its teeth). And thus they said to it, Rise thou, eat thou full many fleshes.