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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
God made the wild animals according to their kinds. He made the livestock according to their kinds and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
So Jehovah God said to the serpent: Because you have done this you are cursed above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate.
God, further said to Moses: You shall say 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.' (JEHOVAH) THIS IS MY NAME FOREVER! This is my memorial-name to all generations.
The next day Jehovah did as he had said. The Egyptian's animals all died. Not one of the animals of the Israelites died.
The seventh day is a Sabbath dedicated to Jehovah your God. Do not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
Let your land rest the seventh year. Do not harvest anything that grows on it. The poor may eat what grows there. The wild animals may have what is left. Do the same with your vineyards and your olive trees. Work six days a week. Do no work on the seventh day. Allow your slaves and the foreigners who work for you and even your animals to rest.
Tell the Israelites: 'Here are the kinds of land animals you may eat: You may eat all animals that have completely divided hoofs and that also chew their cud. read more. You must not eat those that either chew their cud or have divided hoofs. These are the kinds you must never eat: You must never eat camels. Camels are unclean because they chew their cud but do not have divided hoofs. Never eat rock badgers. Rock badgers are unclean because they chew their cud but do not have divided hoofs. You must never eat rabbits. Rabbits are unclean because they chew their cud but do not have divided hoofs. Never eat pigs. Pigs have completely divided hoofs but do not chew their cud. They are also unclean.
Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young the same day.
your domestic animals, and the wild animals in your fields. Everything that it produces may be eaten.
Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls from Bashan have encircled me.
Dogs have surrounded me. A mob has encircled me. They have pierced my hands and feet.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like great deep water. O Jehovah, you preserve man and beast.
You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.
In that day Jehovah will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword. He will slay Leviathan the fleeing, coiling serpent, the monster of the sea.
Say this, 'The Lord Jehovah says: I am against you Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great monster (Egypt) (Psalm 74:13,14) that lies in the midst of his rivers. You have said: 'My Nile is mine! I have made it!'
The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the people who are on the face of the earth will shake at my presence! The mountains will be thrown down! The steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground.'
Therefore the land will mourn. All the inhabitants are weak. The beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea will also perish.
A sea of crystal like glass was in front of the throne. In the center around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.
When they finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them and conquer them, and kill them.
When the dragon saw that he was thrown to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male-child.
The dragon stood on the shore by the sea. I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. His horns had ten crowns on them. Blasphemous names were on his heads.
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
God made the wild animals according to their kinds. He made the livestock according to their kinds and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
Your loving-kindness, O Jehovah, extends to the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
But desert animals will lie down there. Their houses will be full of owls! Shaggy goats (demons) will play there and ostriches will dance there.
If I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage was it to me if the dead do not rise? Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.