Daniel 7

BLIVRE · Chapter 7/12

¹No primeiro ano de Belsazar, rei da Babilônia, Daniel viu um sonho, e visões de sua cabeça em sua cama; logo escreveu o sonho, [e] anotou o resumo das coisas.

²Daniel disse: Eu estava vendo em minha visão de noite, e eis que os quatro ventos do céu atormentavam o grande mar.

³E quatro grandes animais subiam do mar, diferentes um do outro.

⁴O primeiro era como leão, e tinha asas de águia. Eu estava olhando, até que suas asas lhe foram arrancadas; e foi levantado da terra; e posto de pé como um ser humano, e foi lhe dado um coração humano.

⁵E eis outra segundo animal, semelhante a um urso, a qual se levantou por um lado, e tinha em sua boca três costelas entre seus dentes; e foi lhe dito assim: Levanta-te, devora muita carne.

⁶Depois disto eu estava olhando, e eis outro, semelhante a um leopardo, e tinha quatro asas de ave em suas costas; este animal também tinha quatro cabeças; e foi lhe dado domínio.

⁷Depois disto eu estava olhando nas visões da noite, e eis o quarta besta, terrível e espantoso, e muito forte. Ele tinha grandes dentes de ferro; devorava e quebrava em pedaços, e as sobras pisava com seus pés: e era diferente de todos os animais que foram antes dele; e tinha dez chifres.

⁸Enquanto eu estava observando os chifres, eis que outro chifre pequeno subia entre eles, e três dos primeiros chifres foram arrancados de diante dele; e eis que neste chifre havia olhos como olhos humanos, e uma boca que falava coisas arrogantes.

⁹Eu estive olhando até que foram postos tronos, e um Ancião de dias se sentou; sua veste era branca como a neve, e o cabelo de sua cabeça como lã limpa; seu trono era chamas de fogo, e suas rodas fogo ardente.

¹⁰Um rio de fogo manava e saía de diante dele; milhares de milhares lhe serviam, e milhões de milhões estavam de pé diante dele: o julgamento começou, e os livros foram abertos.

¹¹Então eu estive olhando por causa da voz das palavras arrogantes que o chifre falava; estive olhando, até que mataram o animal, e seu corpo foi destruído, e entregue para ser queimado no fogo.

¹²E quanto aos outros animais, seu domínio foi tirado; porém lhes fora dada prolongação de vida até um certo tempo.

¹³Eu estava vendo em minhas visões de noite, e eis que estava vindo nas nuvens do céu como um filho do homem; e ele chegou até o Ancião de dias, e o fizeram chegar diante dele.

¹⁴E foi lhe dado domínio, honra, e reino, de modo que todos os povos, nações e línguas lhe serviram; seu domínio é um domínio eterno, que não passará, e seu reino não será destruído.

¹⁵Quanto a mim, Daniel, meu espírito foi perturbado dentro do corpo, e as visões de minha cabeça me espantaram.

¹⁶Cheguei-me a um dos que estavam em pé, e lhe perguntei a verdade acerca de tudo isto. E ele me disse, e me fez saber a interpretação das coisas.

¹⁷Estas grandes animais, que são quatro, são quatro reis, que se levantarão da terra.

¹⁸Mas os santos do Altíssimo receberão o reino; e possuirão o reino para todo o sempre, eternamente.

¹⁹Então tive desejo de saber a verdade acerca do quarto animal, que era tão diferente de todos os outros, muito terrível, que tinha dentes de ferro, e unhas de bronze, que devorava, quebrava em pedaços, e as sobras pisava com seus pés;

²⁰Assim como dos dez chifres que estavam em sua cabeça, e do outro que havia subido, de diante do qual três tinham caído; daquele chifre que tinha olhos, e boca que falava coisas arrogantes, e cuja aparência era maior que a de seus companheiros.

²¹Eu estava vendo que este chifre fazia guerra contra os santos, e os vencia,

²²Até que veio o Ancião de dias, e o juízo foi dado em favor dos santos do Altíssimo; e veio o tempo que os santos possuíram o reino.

²³Ele disse assim: O quarto animal será um quarto reino na terra, o qual será diferente de todos os reinos; e devorará toda a terra, e a pisará, e a quebrará em pedaços.

²⁴E os dez chifres [significam] que daquele reino se levantarão dez reis; e após deles se levantará outro, o qual será diferente dos primeiros, e humilhará a três reis.

²⁵E falará palavras contra o Altíssimo, e destruirá os santos do Altíssimo; e pensará em mudar os tempos e a lei; e serão entregues em sua mão por um tempo, e tempos, e metade de um tempo.

²⁶Porém o julgamento começará, e tirarão seu domínio, para que seja destruído e aniquilado até o fim;

²⁷E o reino, o domínio, e a majestade dos reinos debaixo de todo o céu, será dado ao povo dos santos do Altíssimo; seu reino será um reino eterno, e todos os domínios lhe servirão e obedecerão.

²⁸Até aqui foi o fim do relato. Quanto a mim, Daniel, meus pensamentos me espantavam muito, e mudou-se meu semblante em mim; mas guardei o relato em 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.