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 beast of the earth after its kind and cattle after their kind and every thing that moves upon the earth after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all beasts and above every animal of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life;
Of every clean animal thou shalt take to thee seven pairs, the male and his female; but of animals that are not clean, two, the male and his female.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel: The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me unto you. This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all ages.
And the next day the LORD did that thing, and of all the livestock of Egypt many died, but of the livestock of the sons of Israel not one died.
but the seventh day shall be the sabbath of the LORD thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manslave, nor thy maidslave, nor thy beast, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;
but the seventh year thou shalt leave it free and release it, that the poor of thy people may eat, and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard and with thy oliveyard. Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.
Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, These are the animals which ye shall eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever divides the hoof and is clovenfooted and chews the cud, among the animals, that shall you eat. read more. Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of those that chew the cud or of those that divide the hoof: the camel because it chews the cud but divides not the hoof; it is unclean unto you. And the coney because it chews the cud, but divides not the hoof: it is unclean unto you. And the hare because it chews the cud, but divides not the hoof: it is unclean unto you. And the swine though it divides the hoof and is clovenfooted, yet it chews not the cud: it is unclean to you.
And whether it is cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and her young both in one day.
and for thy beast and for the animals that are in thy land shall all the fruit thereof be food.
Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round about.
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God; thy judgments are a great deep; O LORD, thou dost preserve man and beast.
Thou didst break the heads of leviathan in pieces and didst give him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall visit punishment upon leviathan the fleeing serpent, and upon leviathan that serpent of double vision; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Speak and say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.
so that the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the field and every serpent that walks by dragging itself upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake before my presence, and the mountains shall be ruined, and the stairs shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
Therefore the earth shall mourn, and every one that dwells therein shall be cut off, with the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven; and even the fishes of the sea shall be caught.
And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal, and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four animals full of eyes in front and behind.
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them.
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the man child.
And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon its horns ten crowns, and upon its heads the name 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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And God made the beast of the earth after its kind and cattle after their kind and every thing that moves upon the earth after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
Thy mercy, O LORD, reaches unto the heavens, and thy truth reaches unto the clouds.
But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what does it advantage me, if the dead do not rise? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.