Daniel 7

1 In the first yere of Balthasar king of Babylon, sawe Daniel a dreame, & there were visions in his head vpon his bead: which dreame he wrote, & declared the summe of the matter,

2 Daniel spake and saide: I sawe in my vision by night, and beholde, the foure windes of heauen stroue vpon the great sea,

3 And foure great beastes came vp from the sea, one diuers from an other.

4 The first was as a lion, and had Egles winges: I beheld till his winges were pluckt from him, and he lifted vp from the earth, & set vpon his feete like a man, & there was geuen him a mans heart.

5 Behold an other beast, [which was] the second, was lyke a beare, and stoode vpon the one side: betwixt his teeth in his mouth he had three ribbes, and it was saide vnto him thus: Arise, eate vp much fleshe.

6 Then I loked, and beholde, there was an other lyke vnto a leopard, this had winges as a foule, euen foure vpon the backe: this beast had foure heads, and there was power geuen him.

7 After this I saw in a vision by night, & beholde, the fourth beast was grimme and horrible, and marueylous strong: it had great iron teeth, it deuoured & destroyed, & stamped the residue vnder his feete, it was vnlike yt other beastes that were before it, for it had ten hornes.

8 As I considered the hornes, beholde, there came vp among them another little horne, before whom there were three of the first hornes pluckt away: and behold, this horne had eyes lyke the eyes of a man, & a mouth speaking presumptuous thinges.

9 I behelde till the thrones were set vp, & the auncient of dayes did sit: whose garment was white as snowe, and the heeres of his head lyke the pure wooll: his throne was like the firie flambe, and his wheeles as burning fire.

10 There issued foorth a firie streame, and went out from before him: a thousand thousandes ministred vnto him, and ten thousand thousandes stoode before him: the iudgement was set, & the bookes opened.

11 Then toke I heede therunto, because of the voyce of the proude words which the horne spake: I behelde till the beast was slaine, and his body destroyed, and geuen to be brent in the fire.

12 As concerning the other beastes, they had their dominion taken away, but their liues were prolonged for a certaine time and season.

13 I saw in visions by night, and behold there came one in the cloudes of heauen, lyke the sonne of man: which went vnto the aucient of dayes, before whom they brought him.

14 And he gaue him dominion & honour, and a kingdome, that al people, nations, and languages should serue him: his dominion is an euerlasting dominion which shall neuer be taken away, and his kingdome shall neuer be destroyed.

15 I Daniel was troubled in my spirite in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head made me afrayde.

16 I gate me vnto one of them that stoode by, and asked him the trueth concerning all these thinges: so he tolde me, and made me vnderstand the interpretation of these thinges.

17 These great beastes which are foure, are foure kinges which shall arise out of the earth:

18 But the High saintes shall receaue a kingdome, and possesse a kingdome for euer, euen for euer and euer.

19 After this, I required to knowe the trueth concerning ye fourth beast, which was so vnlyke the other beastes, and so horrible, whose teeth were of iron, and his nayles of brasse, which deuoured and destroyed, and stamped the residue vnder his feete:

20 [I desired] also [to knowe the trueth] as touching the ten hornes that he had vpon his head, and this other which came vp afterwarde, before whose face there fell downe three, which horne had eyes and a mouth that spake presumptuous thinges, and loked with a grimmer visage then his felowes.

21 I behelde, and the same horne made battaile against the sainctes, yea & preuayled against them.

22 Until the auncient of dayes came that the iudgement was geuen to the high sainctes, and till the time came that the sainctes had the kingdome in possession.

23 He gaue me this aunswer: That fourth beast, shalbe the fourth kingdome vpon earth, it shalbe vnlike to all the kingdomes: it shall deuour, treade downe, and destroy all other landes.

24 The ten hornes, are ten kinges that shall arise out of that kingdome: after whom there shall stande vp another, which shalbe vnlike to the first, and he shall subdue three kinges:

25 And he shall speake wordes against the highest of all, he shall destroy the high sainctes, and thinke that he may chaunge times and lawes: they shalbe geuen into his hande vntill a time, and times, and the deuiding of a time.

26 But the iudgement shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it vnto the ende.

27 And the kingdome and dominion, & the greatnes of the kingdome vnder the whole heaue, shalbe geuen to the people of high sainctes, whose kingdome is an euerlasting kingdome, and all powers shal serue and obey it.

28 Hitherto the ende of the wordes: I Daniel had many cogitations [which] troubled me, & my coutenauce chaunged in me: but the wordes I kept still in my heart.