Daniel 7:17 kjv
These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
Daniel 7:17 nkjv
'Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth.
Daniel 7:17 niv
'The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth.
Daniel 7:17 esv
'These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth.
Daniel 7:17 nlt
"These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth.
Daniel 7 17 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Dan 2:38 | "You, O king... are this head of gold." | Babylon identified as the first kingdom. |
| Dan 2:39 | "After you shall arise another kingdom... and another..." | Succession of kingdoms after Babylon. |
| Dan 2:40 | "The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron..." | Description of the powerful fourth kingdom. |
| Dan 2:44 | "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom..." | God's eternal kingdom supersedes earthly ones. |
| Dan 8:20 | "The ram... are the kings of Media and Persia." | Explicit interpretation of symbolic animals as kingdoms/kings. |
| Dan 8:21 | "And the goat... is the king of Greece." | More explicit interpretation, linking king to kingdom. |
| Dan 8:22 | "And from it four kingdoms shall arise..." | Division of a single kingdom into multiple ones. |
| Rev 13:1 | "And I saw a beast rising out of the sea..." | Similar beast imagery for earthly power, mirroring Daniel. |
| Rev 17:12 | "The ten horns... are ten kings who have not yet received kingdom..." | Revelation's use of "kings" for rulers/kingdoms. |
| Rev 17:14 | "These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them..." | Earthly powers oppose divine authority. |
| Isa 23:9 | "The Lord of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pomp of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth." | God's sovereignty over proud earthly rulers. |
| Ps 2:2 | "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed..." | Earthly kings in rebellion against God. |
| Jer 25:9 | "I am bringing all the tribes of the north... to fight against this land and its inhabitants..." | God raising up foreign kings as instruments of judgment. |
| Dan 4:17 | "The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will..." | God's ultimate sovereignty over all earthly kingdoms. |
| Jer 51:7 | "Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand, making all the earth drunk..." | Earthly kingdoms used by God, but are corrupted. |
| Luke 21:24 | "Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." | Reference to Gentile world dominance, paralleling Daniel's kingdoms. |
| Zech 6:1 | "And again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots coming out from between two mountains..." | Similar imagery of four powers or spirits with earthly roles. |
| 1 John 2:16 | "For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh... is not from the Father but from the world." | Distinguishing earthly desires from divine will. |
| John 18:36 | "My kingdom is not of this world..." | Contrast between earthly and heavenly kingdoms. |
| Acts 17:26 | "And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth..." | God's sovereign hand in establishing earthly nations. |
Daniel 7 verses
Daniel 7 17 Meaning
Daniel 7:17 reveals the direct interpretation of the four great beasts seen in Daniel's vision. The angelic messenger declares that these symbolic, terrifying beasts represent four powerful kings, or more broadly, four successive earthly kingdoms, that are destined to emerge and exert dominion on the earth. This verse provides the essential interpretive key to understanding the preceding prophetic imagery, clarifying that the vision concerns a sequence of significant political powers that will arise among humanity.
Daniel 7 17 Context
Daniel 7 records Daniel's dream and visions that complement Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter 2, occurring during the reign of Belshazzar (around 550 BC). While chapter 2 portrays Gentile world empires as a magnificent statue from a human perspective of external glory, chapter 7 depicts the same succession of empires as grotesque, fearsome beasts emerging from the sea (representing turbulent nations or humanity) from God's divine perspective. These beasts symbolize the inherent savagery, oppressiveness, and anti-God nature of these earthly powers. Verse 17 directly follows Daniel's distress and inquiry about the vision's meaning, serving as the first, explicit interpretive declaration given by the angelic interpreter. It immediately grounds the highly symbolic imagery in geopolitical reality, setting the stage for the specific characteristics of each kingdom and the ultimate contrast with the everlasting Kingdom of God established by the Son of Man.
Daniel 7 17 Word analysis
- These: (Aramaic: `אִלֵּין`, ʾillên) A demonstrative pronoun referring back directly to the four fearsome beasts described in Daniel 7:3-7. It ensures that the interpretation is precisely tied to the specific entities Daniel has seen.
- great: (Aramaic: `רַבְרְבָתָא`, ravrəvāṯā) Implies their formidable size, power, and significance. These are not minor powers but empires of significant dominion.
- beasts: (Aramaic: `חֵיוָתָא`, ḥêwāṯā) Literally "wild animals" or "living creatures." The consistent use of this term throughout Daniel 7 emphasizes their predatory, untamed, and often ruthless nature in contrast to human, moral governance.
- which are four: Explicitly states the number, directly corresponding to the four parts of the statue in Daniel 2 and affirming a clear succession of empires. This detail eliminates ambiguity about the number of powers in view.
- are four kings: (Aramaic: `מַלְכִין`, malkîn) This is a crucial interpretive point. While "kings" (rulers) is the literal translation, in apocalyptic literature and especially within Daniel, the term `מַלְכִין` often refers to the kingdoms or empires over which these kings reign (e.g., Dan 8:20-22 where "king" means "kingdom"). Thus, it signifies four successive empires. This immediately converts the symbolic imagery into concrete political entities.
- which shall arise: (Aramaic: `יְקוּמוּן`, yəqûmûn) From the verb `קוּם` (qûm), meaning "to rise," "to stand up," or "to be established." This denotes a future succession and establishment of these powers, emphasizing their temporal nature, coming into being and then passing away.
- out of the earth: (Aramaic: `מִן־אַרְעָא`, min-ʾarʿā) This phrase is vital. It signifies that these kingdoms originate from humanity, from the temporal realm, and are driven by human ambition and power. This stands in stark contrast to God's eternal kingdom, which originates from heaven (Dan 7:13-14, 27). It highlights their earthly, fallen, and therefore temporary character, implicitly suggesting their opposition to the divine.
- "These great beasts...are four kings": This direct equation provides the foundational hermeneutic for the vision, transforming symbolic animal figures into a clear sequence of dominant political entities. It confirms the apocalyptic vision's rootedness in historical events.
- "kings which shall arise out of the earth": This phrase contrasts human-originated, transient authority with the divine, eternal sovereignty. It immediately sets up the impending divine intervention and establishment of a new, everlasting kingdom not from the "earth" but from "heaven" (implied through context with verses like 7:13-14).
Daniel 7 17 Bonus section
The immediate and unambiguous interpretation provided by the angel in Dan 7:17 highlights a key principle in understanding apocalyptic prophecy: sometimes, the meaning of complex symbols is revealed directly within the text itself. This verse effectively serves as an in-text glossary, preventing wild speculation about the identities of the beasts. It bridges the gap between the figurative vision and its historical fulfillment. This verse also implicitly polemicizes against the pagan notion of divinely appointed, eternal earthly empires, asserting instead their human, temporal origin, setting them up for eventual overthrow by the one true God's eternal kingdom.
Daniel 7 17 Commentary
Daniel 7:17 is the lynchpin of the entire chapter's interpretation. The angel's simple yet profound declaration explicitly clarifies that the horrifying beasts seen by Daniel symbolize "four kings," understood as four successive Gentile kingdoms. This interpretive revelation demystifies the previous cryptic imagery, establishing that the vision concerns a chronological sequence of real-world empires. The phrase "arise out of the earth" underscores the human, temporal, and inherently worldly nature of these powers, driven by human ambition and conquest. They are fundamentally distinct from the divinely established, everlasting kingdom introduced later in the chapter, which "comes with the clouds of heaven" (Dan 7:13). This verse, therefore, sets the theological stage: despite the appearance of overwhelming, bestial earthly power, all such dominion is temporary and arises from a limited, human sphere, ultimately subservient to God's sovereign plan.