Daniel 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 ¹  was given to it. ² 

De 28:49; 2Sa 1:23; Job 25:6; Ps 9:20; Isa 5:28,29; Isa 14:13-17; Jer 4:7,13; Jer 25:9-26; Jer 25:38; Jer 48:40; Jer 50:30-32; La 4:19; Eze 17:3; Eze 28:2,9; Da 4:30; Da 4:31-33; Da 4:32,36; Da 5:18-23; Hab 1:6-8; Hab 2:5-10; Mt 24:28

¹ tn Aram “heart of a man.”

² 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.