Daniel 7:15-28
“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever... And the kingdom and dominion... shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”
King James Version
The angel's interpretation of the four beasts and the little horn, ending in judgment and the everlasting kingdom given to the saints.
Fulfillment References
Daniel 7:13-14 Daniel 2:44 Revelation 13:1-8 Revelation 20:4
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalThe everlasting kingdom is given through Christ to His Spirit-filled saints; the one God's dominion never passes away.
JewishThe four beasts as four empires (often Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome/Edom), the saints' kingdom being Israel's vindication in the Messianic age.
CatholicThe four kingdoms ending in the everlasting kingdom of Christ and His saints; the little horn a persecuting power.
ProtestantParallels Daniel 2; the little horn and the saints' kingdom anchor much eschatological interpretation.
OrthodoxThe triumph of God's kingdom and saints over the beastly empires of history.
DispensationalThe fourth beast is Rome, revived in the end-times; the little horn is the future Antichrist destroyed at Christ's return, after which the saints reign.
AcademicCritical scholars identify the beasts as Babylon–Media–Persia–Greece and the little horn of ch.7 as Antiochus IV Epiphanes, fitting a Maccabean setting; conservatives read a Babylon–Medo-Persia–Greece–Rome sequence with the horn as a future ruler.
Scholarship & Sources
Daniel 7's four beasts parallel the metals of chapter 2; the 'little horn' (7:8,24-25) and 'time, times, and the dividing of time' (7:25) recur in Revelation. The identity of the fourth beast (Rome vs. Greece/Antiochus) tracks the dating debate. Cf. Baldwin, Goldingay.
Open the full interactive entry →Cross-references, Hebrew/Greek, Dead Sea Scrolls notes, study tools and multi-tradition analysis in the interactive explorer.
Bible Prophecy Explorer · based on J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogue · an openly Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal study resource — all traditions presented fairly. Pastor: C. Myles Young, PhD · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.