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 beasts of the earth after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and all creepers upon the earth after their kind. And God saw that it was good.
And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because you have done this you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You shall go upon your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
You shall take with you every clean animal by sevens, the male and female. And take two of the animals that are not clean, the male and female.
And God said to Moses again, You shall say this to the sons of Israel, Jehovah the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My title from generation to generation.
And Jehovah did that thing on the next day, and all the cattle of Egypt died. But of the cattle of the sons of Israel, not one died.
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates.
But the seventh year you shall let it rest and let it alone, so that the poor of your people may eat. And what they leave, the animals of the field shall eat. In the same way you shall deal with your vineyard and with your oliveyard. You shall do your work six days, and on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your ass may rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, These are the animals which you shall eat among all the animals that are in the earth. Whatever divides the hoof, and is cloven-footed, chewing the cud, among the animals, that you shall eat. read more. Only, you shall not eat these of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: the camel, for he chews the cud but does not divide the hoof; he is unclean to you. And the rock badger, because he chews the cud, but does not divide the hoof; he is unclean to you. And the hare, because he chews the cud but does not divide the hoof; he is unclean to you. And the swine, though he divides the hoof and is cloven-footed, yet he does not chew the cud; he is unclean to you.
But a bull or sheep, it and its young one, you shall not kill it in one day.
and for your cattle, and for the beast that is in your land, shall all the increase of it be for food.
Many bulls have circled around Me; strong bulls Of Bashan have surrounded Me.
and You have brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have circled around Me; the band of spoilers have hemmed Me in, piercers of My hands and My feet.
Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Jehovah, You keep man and beast.
You cracked open the heads of leviathan, and gave him to be food to the people living in the wilderness.
In that day Jehovah with His great and fierce and strong sword shall punish the sea-monster, the darting serpent, the sea-monster, that twisting serpent; and He shall kill the monster in the sea.
Speak and say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I, even I, am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon who lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, My river is mine, and I have made it.
so that the fish of the sea, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men on the face of the earth, shall quake at My presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
Therefore the land shall mourn, and everyone who dwells in it shall droop, with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the heavens. Yes, the fish of the sea shall also be taken away.
And a sea of glass was in front of the throne, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind.
And when they complete their testimony, the beast coming up out of the abyss will make war against them and will overcome them and kill them.
And when the dragon saw that he was cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who bore the man child .
And I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. And on its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads was 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 beasts of the earth after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and all creepers upon the earth after their kind. And God saw that it was good.
Your mercy, O Jehovah, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
But the wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of howling creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and he-goats shall dance there.
If according to man I fought with beasts in Ephesus, what advantage is to me if the dead are not raised? "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"