Daniel’s Vision of the Four Beasts

7 In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream with visions in his mind^(A) as he was lying in his bed. He wrote down the dream,^(B) and here is the summary^[a] of his account. ² Daniel said, “In my vision at night I was watching, and suddenly the four winds of heaven^(C) stirred up the great sea. ³ Four huge beasts^(D) came up from the sea,^(E) each different from the other.

⁴ “The first was like a lion^(F) but had eagle’s wings. I continued watching until its wings were torn off. It was lifted up from the ground, set on its feet like a man, and given a human mind.

⁵ “Suddenly, another beast appeared, a second one, that looked like a bear.^(G) It was raised up on one side, with three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up! Gorge yourself on flesh.’

⁶ “After this, while I was watching, suddenly another beast appeared. It was like a leopard^(H) with four wings of a bird on its back. It had four heads,^(I) and it was given dominion.

⁷ “After this, while I was watching in the night visions, suddenly a fourth beast^(J) appeared, frightening and dreadful, and incredibly strong, with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and it trampled with its feet whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns.^(K)

⁸ “While I was considering the horns, suddenly another horn,^(L) a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. And suddenly in this horn there were eyes like the eyes of a human and a mouth that was speaking arrogantly.^(M)

The Ancient of Days and the Son of Man

⁹ “As I kept watching,

¹¹ “I watched, then, because of the sound of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued watching, the beast was killed and its body destroyed and given over to the burning fire.^{(W) 12} As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was removed, but an extension of life was granted to them for a certain period of time.^{(X) 13} I continued watching in the night visions,

The Sheep and the Goats

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels^[a](A) with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.^{(B) 32} All the nations^[b](C) will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.^{(D) 33} He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom^(E) prepared for you from the foundation of the world.^(F)

³⁵ “‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’^(G)

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’

⁴⁰ “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’^(H)

⁴¹ “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!^{(I) 42} For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you didn’t take me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help you?’

⁴⁵ “Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’^(J)

⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”^(K)