Reference: BEASTS
American
This word, used in contradistinction to man, denotes all animals besides, Ps 36:6, sometimes it means quadrupeds, and not creeping things, Le 11:2-7; and sometimes domestic cattle, in distinction from wild creatures, Ge 1:25. They were all brought to Adam to be named. Few are mentioned in the Bible but such as lived in Palestine and the countries adjacent. Beasts suffer with man under the penalties of the fall, Ge 3:14; Ex 9:6; 3:15; Eze 38:20; Ho 4:3. Yet various merciful provision for them were made in the Jewish law, Ex 20:10; 23:11-12; Le 22:28; 25:7. Animals were classed in the law as clean or unclean, with a primary reference to animal sacrifices, Ge 7:2; Le 11 The word beasts is figuratively used to symbolize various kings and nations, Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1; Eze 29:3; Da 7; 7:8; Re 12:13. It also describes the character of violent and brutal men, Ps 22:12,16; 1Co 15:32; 2Pe 2:12. The Hebrew word commonly rendered beast signifies living creatures. In Ezekiel's vision, Eze 1, this is applied to human beings or their symbols. In the book of Revelation two distinct words are employed symbolically, both rendered "beast" in our version. One is applied to persecuting earthly powers, Re 11:7; 13:1, etc.; the other to superhuman beings or their symbols, Re 4:6, etc. this latter might be appropriately rendered, "living creature," as the corresponding Hebrew word is in Ezekiel.
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And God made the wild-beast of the land after its kind, and the tame-beast after its kind, and every creeping thing of the ground, after its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then said Yahweh God unto the serpent - Because thou hast done this, Accursed, art thou above every tame-beast, and above every wild-beast of the field, - on thy belly, shall thou go, and dust, shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
Of all the clean beasts, shalt thou take to thee by sevens, a male and his female, - and, of the beasts that are not clean,, shall be two a male and his female.
And God said yet further unto Moses - Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, Yahweh God of your fathers. God of Abraham God of Isaac and God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This, is my name to times age-abiding, And, this, my memorial to generation after generation.
So Yahweh did this thing, on the morrow, and all the cattle of the Egyptians died, - but of the cattle of the sons of Israel, died not one.
but, the seventh day, is a sabbath unto Yahweh thy God, - thou shalt do no work, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor thy servant, nor thy handmaid, nor thy beast, nor thy sojourner who is within thy gates,
but the seventh year, shalt thou let it rest and be still so shall the needy of thy people eat, and what they leave, shall the wild-beast of the field eat, - in like manner, shalt thou deal with thy vineyard with thine oliveyard. Six days, shalt thou do thy work, but on the seventh day, shalt thou keep sabbath, - that thine ox may rest and thine ass, and that the son of thy handmaid and the sojourner may be refreshed.
Speak ye unto the sons of Israel saying, - These are the living things which ye may eat, of all the beasts which are upon the earth: Whatsoever parteth the hoof and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud among beasts, that, may ye eat. read more. Nevertheless, these, shall ye not eat, of them that chew the cud, and of them that part the hoof, - the camel, because though he, cheweth the cud, yet, the hoof, he parteth not, unclean, he is to you; And, the coney, because, though he cheweth the cud, yet, the hoof, he parteth not, - unclean, he is to you; And the hare, because though she cheweth the cud, yet the hoof, she parteth not, - unclean, she is to you; And, the swine, because though he parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, yet, the cud, he cheweth not, - unclean, he is to you;
Whether cow or ewe - it and its young, shall ye not slaughter on one day.
and unto thy tame-beasts, and unto the wild-beasts that are in thy land, shall belong all the increase thereof for food.
Many bulls have surrounded me, Strong oxen of Bashan, have enclosed me;
For dogs have surrounded me, - An assembly of evil doers, have encircled me, They have pierced my hands and my feet,
Thy righteousness, is like mighty mountains, and, thy just decrees, are a great resounding deep, - Man and beast, thou savest, O Yahweh!
Thou, didst crush the heads of the Sea-Monster, Thou didst give him to be food, for the people of the deserts;
In that day, will Yahweh With his sword - the hard and the great and the strong, Bring punishment Upon Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, And upon Leviathan, the crooked serpent, - And will slay the monster which is in the sea.
Speak, and thou shalt say - Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh Behold me! against thee O Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great Crocodile that lieth along in the midst of his rivers: Who saith - My river is, mine own, Since I myself made it me!
Then shall tremble before me The fishes of the sea, and The bird of the heavens and The wild beast of the field, and Every creeping thing that creepeth on the ground, and All the men we are on the face of the ground, - and The mountains is hall be torn asunder and The steep places I shall sink down I, and Every wall to the earth, shall be thrown.
For this cause, shall the land mourn, and everyone who dwelleth therein shall languish, with the wild beast of the field and with the bird of the heavens, - moreover also, the fishes of the sea, shall be withdrawn.
and, before the throne, is as a glassy sea, like unto crystal. And, in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, are four living creatures full of eyes, before and behind;
And, as soon as they have completed their witnessing, the wild-beast that is to come up out of the abyss, will make war with them, and overcome them, and slay them.
And, when the dragon saw that he was cast to the earth, he pursued the woman who had brought forth the manchild.
And I saw, out of the sea, a wild-beast coming up; having ten horns, and seven heads, and, upon his horns, ten diadems, and, upon his head, names of blasphemy.
Watsons
BEASTS. When this word is used in opposition to man, as Ps 36:5, any brute creature is signified; when to creeping things, as Leviticus 11:2, 7; 29:30, four-looted animals, from the size of the hare and upward, are intended; and when to wild creatures, as Ge 1:25, cattle, or tame animals, are spoken of. In Isa 13:21, several wild animals are mentioned as dwelling among the ruins of Babylon: "Wild beasts of the desert," ????, those of the dry wilderness, as the root of the word implies, "shall dwell there. Their houses shall be full of doleful creatures," ????, marsh animals. "Owls shall dwell there," ostriches, "and satyrs," ??????, shaggy ones, "shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands," ????, oases of the desert, "shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons," ????, crocodiles, or amphibious animals, "shall be in their desolate places." St. Paul, 1Co 15:32, speaks of fighting with beasts, &c: by which he does not mean his having been exposed in the amphitheatre to fight as a gladiator, as some have conjectured, but that he had to contend at Ephesus with the fierce uproar of Demetrius and his associates. Ignatius uses the same figure in his epistle to the Romans: "From Syria even unto Rome I fight with wild beasts, both by sea and land, both night and day, being bound to ten leopards;" that is, to a band of soldiers. So Lucian, in like manner, says, "For I am not to fight with ordinary wild beasts, but with men, insolent and hard to be convinced." In Re 4; 5; 6, mention is made of four beasts, or rather, as the word ??? signifies, living creatures, as in Ezekiel 1; and so the word might have been less harshly translated. Wild beasts are used in Scripture as emblems of tyrannical and persecuting powers. The most illustrious conquerors of antiquity also have not a more honourable emblem.
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And God made the wild-beast of the land after its kind, and the tame-beast after its kind, and every creeping thing of the ground, after its kind. And God saw that it was good.
O Yahweh! in the heavens, is thy lovingkindness, Thy faithfulness, as far as the fleecy clouds:
Then shall lie down there, wild beasts, And filled shall be their houses with owls, - Then shall inhabit there, the ostrich, And shaggy creatures, shall dance there.
If, after the manner of men, I have fought with wild-beasts at Ephesus, what, to me, the profit? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for, tomorrow, we die.