Daniel 7:3

3 I saw four huge animals come up from the sea, and each animal was different from the others.

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 Belshazzar's first year as king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream. He saw visions as he was lying on his bed, and he wrote down what he had dreamed.

2 Daniel said: "I saw my vision at night. In the vision the wind was blowing from all four directions, which made the sea very rough.

3 I saw four huge animals come up from the sea, and each animal was different from the others.

4 "The first animal looked like a lion, but had wings like an eagle. I watched this animal until its wings were torn off. It was lifted from the ground so that it stood up on two feet like a human, and it was given the mind of a human.

5 Then I saw a second animal before me that looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, 'Get up and eat all the meat you want!'