7:4 “The first one was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was lifted up from the ground. It was made to stand on two feet like a human being, and a human mind 4 was given to it. 5
7:7 “After these things, as I was watching in the night visions 6 a fourth beast appeared – one dreadful, terrible, and very strong. 7 It had two large rows 8 of iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and anything that was left it trampled with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that came before it, and it had ten horns.
7:19 “Then I wanted to know the meaning 9 of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others. It was very dreadful, with two rows of iron teeth and bronze claws, and it devoured, crushed, and trampled anything that was left with its feet.
1 tc The LXX lacks “and toes.”
2 tn Aram “potter’s clay.”
3 tn Aram “clay of clay” (also in v. 43).
4 tn Aram “heart of a man.”
5 sn The identity of the first animal, derived from v. 17 and the parallels in chap. 2, is Babylon. The reference to the plucking of its wings is probably a reference to the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity (cf. chap. 4). The latter part of v. 4 then describes the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar. The other animals have traditionally been understood to represent respectively Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, although most of modern scholarship identifies them as Media, Persia, and Greece. For a biblical parallel to the mention of lion, bear, and leopard together, see Hos 13:7-8.
6 tn The Aramaic text has also “and behold.” So also in vv. 8, 13.
7 sn The fourth animal differs from the others in that it is nondescript. Apparently it was so fearsome that Daniel could find nothing with which to compare it. Attempts to identify this animal as an elephant or other known creature are conjectural.
8 tn The Aramaic word for “teeth” is dual rather than plural, suggesting two rows of teeth.
9 tn Aram “to make certain.”