Daniel 7

ARC · Chapter 7/12

¹No primeiro anno de Belshazzar, rei de Babylonia, teve Daniel um sonho e visões da sua cabeça estando na sua cama: escreveu logo o sonho, e relatou a summa das coisas.

²Fallou Daniel, e disse: Eu estava vendo na minha visão da noite, e eis que os quatro ventos do céu combatiam no mar grande.

³E quatro animaes grandes, differentes uns dos outros, subiam do mar.

⁴O primeiro era como leão, e tinha azas de aguia: eu estava olhando, até que lhe foram arrancadas as azas; e foi levantado da terra, e posto em pé como um homem, e foi-lhe dado um coração de homem.

⁵E eis aqui outro segundo animal, similhante a um urso, o qual se levantou de um lado, e tinha na bocca tres costellas entre os seus dentes, e foi-lhe dito assim: Levanta-te, devora muita carne.

⁶Depois d'isto, eu estava olhando, e eis aqui outro, que era como leopardo, e tinha quatro azas de ave nas suas costas: tinha tambem este animal quatro cabeças, e foi-lhe dado dominio.

⁷Depois d'isto, eu estava olhando nas visões da noite, e eis aqui o quarto animal, terrivel e espantoso, e muito forte, o qual tinha dentes grandes de ferro, devorava e fazia em pedaços, e pizava aos seus pés o que sobejava; e era differente de todos os animaes que foram antes d'elle, e tinha dez pontas.

⁸Estando eu considerando as pontas, eis que outra ponta pequena subia entre ellas, e tres das pontas primeiras foram arrancadas de diante d'elle; e eis que n'esta ponta havia olhos, como olhos de homem, e uma bocca que fallava grandiosamente.

⁹Eu estive olhando, até que foram postos uns thronos, e o ancião de dias se assentou: o seu vestido era branco como a neve, e o cabello da sua cabeça como a limpa lã; o seu throno chammas de fogo, e as rodas d'elle fogo ardente.

¹⁰Um rio de fogo manava e sahia de diante d'elle: milhares de milhares o serviam, e milhões de milhões estavam em pé diante d'elle: assentou-se o juizo, e abriram-se os livros.

¹¹Então estive olhando, por causa da voz das grandes palavras que fallava a ponta: estive olhando até que mataram o animal, e o seu corpo foi desfeito, e entregue para ser queimado pelo fogo.

¹²E, quanto aos outros animaes, foi-lhes tirado o dominio; todavia foi-lhes dado prolongação de vida até certo espaço de tempo.

¹³Eu estava vendo nas minhas visões da noite, e eis que era vindo nas nuvens do céu um como o filho do homem: e chegou até ao ancião dos dias, e o fizeram chegar perante elle.

¹⁴E foi-lhe dado o dominio e a honra, e o reino, e que todos os povos, nações e linguas o servissem: o seu dominio é um dominio eterno, que não passará, e o seu reino se não destruirá.

¹⁵Quanto a mim, Daniel, o meu espirito foi abatido dentro do corpo, e as visões da minha cabeça me espantavam.

¹⁶Cheguei-me a um dos que estavam em pé, e pedi-lhe a certeza ácerca de tudo isto. E elle me disse, e fez-me saber a interpretação das coisas.

¹⁷Estes grandes animaes, que são quatro, são quatro reis, que se levantarão da terra.

¹⁸Mas os sanctos do Altissimo receberão o reino, e possuirão o reino para todo o sempre, e de eternidade em eternidade.

¹⁹Então tive desejo de ter certeza do quarto animal, que era differente de todos os outros, muito terrivel, cujos dentes eram de ferro, e as suas unhas de metal; que devorava, fazia em pedaços e pizava a pés o que sobrava.

²⁰Tambem das dez pontas que tinha na cabeça, e da outra que subia, de diante da qual cairam tres, d'aquella ponta, digo, que tinha olhos, e bocca que fallava grandiosamente, e cujo parecer era maior do que o das suas companheiras.

²¹Eu olhava, e eis que esta ponta fazia guerra contra os sanctos, e os vencia.

²²Até que veiu o ancião de dias, e se deu o juizo aos sanctos do Altissimo, e chegou o tempo em que os sanctos possuiram o reino.

²³Disse assim: O quarto animal será o quarto reino na terra, o qual será differente de todos os reinos; e devorará toda a terra, e a pizará aos pés, e a fará em pedaços.

²⁴E, quanto ás dez pontas, d'aquelle mesmo reino se levantarão dez reis; e depois d'elles se levantará outro, o qual será differente dos primeiros, e abaterá a tres reis

²⁵E fallará palavras contra o Altissimo, e destruirá os sanctos do Altissimo, e cuidará em mudar os tempos e a lei; e serão entregues na sua mão por um tempo, e tempos, e a metade d'um tempo.

²⁶E o juizo estará assentado, e tirarão o seu dominio, para o destruir e para o desfazer até ao fim.

²⁷E o reino, e o dominio, e a magestade dos reinos debaixo de todo o céu se dará ao povo dos sanctos do Altissimo: o seu reino será um reino eterno, e todos os dominios o servirão, e lhe obedecerão:

²⁸Até aqui foi o fim do negocio. Quanto a mim, Daniel, os meus pensamentos muito me espantavam, e mudou-se em mim o meu semblante; mas guardei o negocio no meu coração.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Daniel has a vision of four great beasts rising from the sea, representing four successive empires, culminating in a small horn that blasphemes, until the 'Ancient of Days' judges and gives the eternal kingdom to 'one like a son of man.'

Explanation

This vision, which occurred decades before the events of chapter 5 in actual chronological order (though placed here in the book's structure), picks up and expands the sequence of empires already seen in the statue of chapter 2, but now with more dramatic and symbolic details using wild beasts. The 'Ancient of Days,' with garments white as snow, represents God on his throne of eternal judgment, while the figure of 'one like a son of man' coming with the clouds and receiving everlasting dominion is one of the most important messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, a title Jesus would repeatedly claim for himself in the Gospels. The fourth beast, more terrible than the others and with ten horns, is generally identified with the Roman Empire, showing the book's concern with the power and ultimate fall of all human empires before God's eternal kingdom.

Fun facts

The expression 'the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven' (v.13) is quoted directly by Jesus before the high priest at his trial (Matthew 26:64), applying this messianic prophecy explicitly to himself.
This is considered by many scholars the first clear appearance of the 'apocalyptic' literary genre in the Bible, characterized by complex symbolic visions about the end of the age, which would strongly influence later books such as Revelation.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Daniel 7:1This dream takes place chronologically before the events of chapter 5, in Belshazzar’s first year — the book of Daniel does not follow a strictly chronological order, alternating between court stories and prophetic visions.
Daniel 7:2The four winds stirring up ‘the great sea’ before the beasts emerge draws on an image common in the ancient Near East, where the sea represented chaos and foreign nations — the four beasts that come out of it are, by the end of the chapter, explained by the text itself as four kings or kingdoms.
Daniel 7:3The sea, in the imagination of the ancient Near East, was a common symbol of chaos and threat — beasts coming up out of it already suggests, before any further detail, that they represent hostile, unpredictable powers.
Daniel 7:4Lion, bear, and leopard, each with some exaggerated feature — wings, three ribs in its mouth, four heads — pick up the same idea of successive empires already seen in the statue of chapter 2, now in the language of beasts instead of metals.
Daniel 7:5Raising itself up ‘on one side’ may indicate an empire that is unbalanced or expansionist in a specific direction; the traditional identification links this bear to the Medo-Persian empire, Babylon’s successor.
Daniel 7:6Four heads and four wings suggest a swift power later split into parts — the traditional reading associates this leopard with Alexander’s Greek empire, fragmented among his generals after his death.
Daniel 7:7Unlike the first three beasts, which resemble known creatures, this fourth beast has no comparison to any real animal — a sign that it represents a power so brutal it escapes any natural category.
Daniel 7:8The exact identity of this ‘little horn’ is one of the biggest debates in the interpretation of Daniel — some historical readings link the figure to a ruler of the Greek period, while others read it as a symbol of a future oppressive power.
Daniel 7:9‘The Ancient of days’ sitting on a throne of fire, with books opened before him, is a scene of heavenly courtroom — a formal judgment, with written records, an image that appears in several Jewish apocalyptic texts to describe the nations’ final reckoning.
Daniel 7:10The scene resembles a heavenly court of justice, with an enormous number of servants and open books — the image of a formal, public judgment, not an arbitrary or secret punishment.
Daniel 7:11The beast’s destruction is triggered specifically by the arrogance of its words, a pattern already seen with Nebuchadnezzar: speaking with excessive pride precedes the fall in several parts of the book.
Daniel 7:12Saying that the earlier empires lost their dominion but went on existing for a while suggests a gradual transition of power, not the immediate disappearance of entire peoples and cultures.
Daniel 7:13‘One like the Son of man’ coming with the clouds of heaven is one of the most debated expressions in the whole Bible: the chapter itself explains later, in verses 18 and 27, that the kingdom is given ‘to the saints of the most High,’ that is, to the faithful people as a whole — but later traditions read this figure as one specific individual. Both readings coexist in the book’s history of interpretation.
Daniel 7:14This eternal kingdom given to the figure ‘like the Son of man’ contrasts directly with all the earlier empires in the vision, which, however powerful, all had an expiration date.
Daniel 7:15Daniel’s emotional reaction, physical distress at his own vision, shows that even as the prophet receiving the revelation, he does not experience it with cold detachment; the scene affects him as a person.
Daniel 7:16Unlike Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams, which needed Daniel to interpret them, here it is Daniel himself who receives the vision and has to ask a heavenly being what it means.
Daniel 7:17The interpreter explains directly that the beasts represent kings or kingdoms — most of Daniel’s apocalyptic visions use this same code, in which an animal stands for political power.
Daniel 7:18‘The saints of the most High’ here probably designates God’s faithful people as a whole, not some restricted category of extraordinary individuals — the promise is collective, not individual.
Daniel 7:19Daniel asks for specific details only about the fourth beast, a sign that it was the part of the vision that most intrigued and frightened him among everything he had seen.
Daniel 7:20Repeating the details of the little horn, already described in verse 8, shows that this specific figure is Daniel’s real focus of interest within the whole vision of the four beasts.
Daniel 7:21The little horn making war against the saints for ‘a time and times and the dividing of time’ is another symbolic and obscure time expression, much debated across the centuries with no consensus on the exact length it represents.
Daniel 7:22The story’s turning point depends on a direct intervention by ‘the Ancient of days’ — the little horn’s power is not defeated by a rival military force, but by a judgment coming from outside the human political system.
Daniel 7:23Saying that this kingdom will devour ‘the whole earth’ suggests a reach without precedent among the vision’s earlier empires, consistent with the traditional identification of this fourth kingdom as Rome.
Daniel 7:24The exact identity of these ten kings and the king who succeeds them is one of the most debated points among scholars of the book — the text names no nations or rulers, leaving room for different historical readings.
Daniel 7:25‘A time and times and the dividing of time’ is a coded expression, with no clear indication of an exact length in years — generally understood as a poetic way of saying ‘a limited period,’ rather than a calendar calculation.
Daniel 7:26The little horn’s power is not merely defeated but ‘consumed... unto the end’ — an emphasis on the finality of its fall, leaving no room for it to rise again afterward.
Daniel 7:27Handing the kingdom over ‘to the people of the saints of the most High’ is the text’s own explanation of what the figure of the son of man represents: not a single individual seizing power, but the faithful people collectively receiving an everlasting kingdom.
Daniel 7:28Keeping the vision ‘in my heart’ without telling anyone right away suggests Daniel needed time to process alone the emotional weight of what he had seen before writing it all down.