Reference: Beast
Easton
This word is used of flocks or herds of grazing animals (Ex 22:5; Nu 20:4,8,11; Ps 78:48); of beasts of burden (Ge 45:17); of eatable beasts (Pr 9:2); and of swift beasts or dromedaries (Isa 60:6). In the New Testament it is used of a domestic animal as property (Re 18:13); as used for food (1Co 15:39), for service (Lu 10:34; Ac 23:24), and for sacrifice (Ac 7:42).
When used in contradistinction to man (Ps 36:6), it denotes a brute creature generally, and when in contradistinction to creeping things (Le 11:2-7; 27:26), a four-footed animal.
The Mosaic law required that beasts of labour should have rest on the Sabbath (Ex 20:10; 23:12), and in the Sabbatical year all cattle were allowed to roam about freely, and eat whatever grew in the fields (Ex 23:11; Le 25:7). No animal could be castrated (Le 22:24). Animals of different kinds were to be always kept separate (Le 19:19; De 22:10). Oxen when used in threshing were not to be prevented from eating what was within their reach (De 25:4; 1Co 9:9).
This word is used figuratively of an infuriated multitude (1Co 15:32; Ac 19:29; comp. Ps 22:12,16; Ec 3:18; Isa 11:6-8), and of wicked men (2Pe 2:12). The four beasts of Da 7:3,17,23 represent four kingdoms or kings.
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And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Put your goods on your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan;
But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on that day you are to do no work, you or your son or your daughter, your man-servant or your woman-servant, your cattle or the man from a strange country who is living among you:
If a man makes a fire in a field or a vine-garden, and lets the fire do damage to another man's field, he is to give of the best produce of his field or his vine-garden to make up for it.
But in the seventh year let the land have a rest and be unplanted; so that the poor may have food from it: and let the beasts of the field take the rest. Do the same with your vine-gardens and your olive-trees. For six days do your work, and on the seventh day keep the Sabbath; so that your ox and your ass may have rest, together with the son of your servant and the man from a strange land living among you.
Say to the children of Israel: These are the living things which you may have for food among all the beasts on the earth. You may have as food any beast which has a division in the horn of its foot, and whose food comes back into its mouth to be crushed again. read more. But, at the same time, of those beasts, you may not take for food the camel, because its food comes back but the horn of its foot is not parted in two; it is unclean to you. And the rock-badger, for the same reason, is unclean to you. And the hare, because the horn of its foot is not parted in two, is unclean to you. And the pig is unclean to you, because though the horn of its foot is parted, its food does not come back.
Keep my laws. Do not let your cattle have offspring by those of a different sort; do not put mixed seed into your field; do not put on a robe made of two sorts of cloth.
An animal which has its sex parts damaged or crushed or broken or cut, may not be offered to the Lord; such a thing may not be done anywhere in your land.
And for your cattle and the beasts on the land; all the natural increase of the land will be for food.
But a man may not give by oath to the Lord the first-fruits of cattle which are offered to the Lord: if it is an ox or a sheep it is the Lord's.
Why have you taken the Lord's people into this waste, for death to come to us and to our cattle there?
Take the rod, you and Aaron, your brother, and make all the people come together, and before their eyes give orders to the rock to give out its water; and so make water come out of the rock for them, and give the people and their cattle drink.
And lifting up his hand, Moses gave the rock two blows with his rod: and water came streaming out, and the people and their cattle had drink enough.
Do not do your ploughing with an ox and an ass yoked together.
Do not keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it.
A great herd of oxen is round me: I am shut in by the strong oxen of Bashan.
Dogs have come round me: I am shut in by the band of evil-doers; they made wounds in my hands and feet.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judging is like the great deep; O Lord, you give life to man and beast.
Ice was rained down on their cattle; thunderstorms sent destruction among the flocks.
She has put her fat beasts to death; her wine is mixed, her table is ready.
I said in my heart, It is because of the sons of men, so that God may put them to the test and that they may see themselves as beasts.
And the wolf will be living with the lamb, and the leopard will take his rest with the young goat; and the lion will take grass for food like the ox; and the young lion will go with the young ones of the herd; and a little child will be their guide. And the cow and the bear will be friends while their young ones are sleeping together. read more. And the child at the breast will be playing by the hole of the snake, and the older child will put his hand on the bright eye of the poison-snake.
You will be full of camel-trains, even the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba will come, with gold and spices, giving word of the great acts of the Lord.
And four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from another.
These great beasts are four kings who will be cut off from the earth.
This is what he said: The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom which will come on earth, different from all the kingdoms, and it will overcome all the earth, crushing it down and smashing it.
And came to him and put clean linen round his wounds, with oil and wine; and he put him on his beast and took him to a house and took care of him.
But God was turned from them and let them give worship to the stars of heaven, as it says in the book of the prophets, Did you make offerings to me of sheep and oxen for forty years in the waste land, O house of Israel?
And the town was full of noise and trouble, and they all came running into the theatre, having taken by force Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia who were journeying in company with Paul.
And get beasts so that they may put Paul on them, and take him safely to Felix, the ruler.
If, after the way of men, I was fighting with beasts at Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not come to life again, let us take our pleasure in feasting, for tomorrow we come to an end.
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one flesh of men, another of beasts, another of birds, and another of fishes.
But these men, like beasts without reason, whose natural use is to be taken and put to death, crying out against things of which they have no knowledge, will undergo that same destruction which they are designing for others;
And sweet-smelling plants, and perfumes, and wine, and oil, and well crushed grain, and cattle and sheep; and horses and carriages and servants; and souls of men.
Fausets
Representing two distinct Hebrew words, bihemah and chay, "cattle" and "living creature," or "animal." Beir means either collectively all cattle (Ex 22:4; Ps 78:48) or specially beasts of burden (Ge 45:17). The "beheemah" answer to the hoofed animals. In Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 some principal divisions of the animal kingdom are given; the cloven footed, chewing the cud, ruminantia. The aim of Scripture is not natural science, but religion. Where system is needful for this, it is given simple and effective for the purposes of religion. If Scripture had given scientific definitions, they would have been irrelevant and even marring to the effect designed. The language is therefore phenomenal, i.e. according to appearances.
Thus the hare and hyrax have not the four stomachs common to ruminant animals, but they move the jaw in nibbling like the ruminants. The hare chews over again undigested food brought up from the aesophagus though not a genuine ruminant. The teeth of the rodentia grow during life, so that they necessarily have to be kept down by frequent grinding with the jaws; this looks like rumination. The hare and the coney represent really the rodentia; (the Coney, or Hyrax, though a pachyderm, is linked with the hare, because externally resembling the rodentia;) swine, pachydermata; "whatsoever goeth upon his paws," "all manner of beasts that go on all four," carnivora: only those of a limited district, and those at all possible to be used as food, are noticed, it is noteworthy that it is only "every animal of the field" that Jehovah brought to Adam to name, namely, animals in any way useful to man (Ge 2:19), mainly the herbivora. (See CONEY; HYRAX.) Dominion is not specified as given over the (wild, savage) "beasts of the earth" (mainly carnivora), but only "over all the earth."
So in Ps 8:7 man's dominion is over "the beasts of the field." Noah is not said to take into the ark beasts of the earth; but in Ge 9:9-10, "beasts of the earth" are distinguished from "all that go out of the ark." Next to fear of a deluge was their fear of the beasts of the earth; but God assures men "the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth" (Ge 9:2). Symbolically, man severed from God and resting on his own physical or intellectual strength, or material resources, is beastly and brutish. He is only manly when Godly, for man was made in the image of God. So Asaph describes himself, when envying the prosperous wicked," I was as a beast before Thee" (Ps 73:22). "Man in honor (apart from God) abideth not, he is like the beasts that perish" (Ps 49:12).
The multitude opposing Messiah are but so many "bulls" and "calves" to be stilled by His "rebuke" (Ps 68:30). Those "that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, as natural brute beasts, are made only to be taken and destroyed" (2Pe 2:12). So persecutors of Christians, as Paul's opponents at Ephesus (1Co 15:32). The "beast" (Revelation 13; Revelation 15; Revelation 17; Revelation 19) is the combination of all these sensual, lawless, God opposing features. The four successive world empires are represented as beasts coming up out of the sea whereon the winds of heaven strove (Daniel 7). The kingdom of Messiah, on the contrary, is that of "the Son of MAN," supplanting utterly the former, and alone everlasting and world wide. In Revelation 4; 5, the four cherubic forms are not "beasts" (as KJV), but "living creatures" (zoa).
The "beast" (theerion) is literally the wild beast, untamed to the obedience of Christ and God (Ro 8:7). The "harlot" or apostate church (compare Re 12:1, etc., with Re 17:1, etc.; Isa 1:21) sits first on the beast, which again is explained as "seven mountains upon which she sitteth"; probably seven universal God-opposed empires (contrast Jer 51:25 with Isa 2:2) of which the seven-hilled Rome is the prominent embodiment, namely, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Mede Persia, Greece, Rome (including the modern Latin kingdoms), and the Germano-Sclavonic empire.
The woman sitting on them is the church conformed to the world; therefore the instrument of her sin is retributively made the instrument of her punishment (Ezekiel 23; Jer 2:19; Re 17:16). "The spirit of man," even as it normally ascends to God, whose image he bore, so at death "goeth upward"; and the spirit of the beast, even as its desires tend downward to merely temporal wants, "goeth downward" (Ec 3:21). God warns against cruelty to the brute (De 22:6-7). He regarded the "much cattle" of Nineveh (Jon 4:11). He commanded that they should be given the sabbath rest. As to the creature's final deliverance, see Ro 8:20-23.
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And from the earth the Lord God made every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and took them to the man to see what names he would give them: and whatever name he gave to any living thing, that was its name.
And from the earth the Lord God made every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and took them to the man to see what names he would give them: and whatever name he gave to any living thing, that was its name.
And the fear of you will be strong in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air; everything which goes on the land, and all the fishes of the sea, are given into your hands.
And the fear of you will be strong in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air; everything which goes on the land, and all the fishes of the sea, are given into your hands.
Truly, I will make my agreement with you and with your seed after you,
Truly, I will make my agreement with you and with your seed after you, And with every living thing with you, all birds and cattle and every beast of the earth which comes out of the ark with you.
And with every living thing with you, all birds and cattle and every beast of the earth which comes out of the ark with you.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Put your goods on your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan;
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Put your goods on your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan;
If he still has what he had taken, whatever it is, ox or ass or sheep, he is to give twice its value.
If he still has what he had taken, whatever it is, ox or ass or sheep, he is to give twice its value.
If by chance you see a place which a bird has made for itself in a tree or on the earth, with young ones or eggs, and the mother bird seated on the young ones or on the eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young:
If by chance you see a place which a bird has made for itself in a tree or on the earth, with young ones or eggs, and the mother bird seated on the young ones or on the eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young: See that you let the mother bird go, but the young ones you may take; so it will be well for you and your life will be long.
See that you let the mother bird go, but the young ones you may take; so it will be well for you and your life will be long.
But man, like the animals, does not go on for ever; he comes to an end like the beasts.
But man, like the animals, does not go on for ever; he comes to an end like the beasts.
Say sharp words to the beast among the water-plants, the band of strong ones, with the lords of the peoples, put an end to the people whose delight is in war.
Say sharp words to the beast among the water-plants, the band of strong ones, with the lords of the peoples, put an end to the people whose delight is in war.
As for me, I was foolish, and without knowledge; I was like a beast before you.
As for me, I was foolish, and without knowledge; I was like a beast before you.
Ice was rained down on their cattle; thunderstorms sent destruction among the flocks.
Ice was rained down on their cattle; thunderstorms sent destruction among the flocks.
Who is certain that the spirit of the sons of men goes up to heaven, or that the spirit of the beasts goes down to the earth?
Who is certain that the spirit of the sons of men goes up to heaven, or that the spirit of the beasts goes down to the earth?
The upright town has become untrue; there was a time when her judges gave right decisions, when righteousness had a resting-place in her, but now she is full of those who take men's lives.
The upright town has become untrue; there was a time when her judges gave right decisions, when righteousness had a resting-place in her, but now she is full of those who take men's lives.
And it will come about in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord will be placed on the top of the mountains, and be lifted up over the hills; and all nations will come to it.
And it will come about in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord will be placed on the top of the mountains, and be lifted up over the hills; and all nations will come to it.
The evil you yourselves have done will be your punishment, your errors will be your judge: be certain then, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing to give up the Lord your God, and no longer to be moved by fear of me, says the Lord, the Lord of armies.
The evil you yourselves have done will be your punishment, your errors will be your judge: be certain then, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing to give up the Lord your God, and no longer to be moved by fear of me, says the Lord, the Lord of armies.
See, I am against you, says the Lord, O mountain of destruction, causing the destruction of all the earth: and my hand will be stretched out on you, rolling you down from the rocks, and making you a burned mountain.
See, I am against you, says the Lord, O mountain of destruction, causing the destruction of all the earth: and my hand will be stretched out on you, rolling you down from the rocks, and making you a burned mountain.
And am I not to have mercy on Nineveh, that great town, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons without the power of judging between right and left, as well as much cattle?
And am I not to have mercy on Nineveh, that great town, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons without the power of judging between right and left, as well as much cattle?
Because the mind of the flesh is opposite to God; it is not under the law of God, and is not able to be:
Because the mind of the flesh is opposite to God; it is not under the law of God, and is not able to be:
For every living thing was put under the power of change, not by its desire, but by him who made it so, in hope
For every living thing was put under the power of change, not by its desire, but by him who made it so, in hope That all living things will be made free from the power of death and will have a part with the free children of God in glory.
That all living things will be made free from the power of death and will have a part with the free children of God in glory. For we are conscious that all living things are weeping and sorrowing in pain together till now.
For we are conscious that all living things are weeping and sorrowing in pain together till now. And not only so, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we have sorrow in our minds, waiting for the time when we will take our place as sons, that is, the salvation of our bodies.
And not only so, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we have sorrow in our minds, waiting for the time when we will take our place as sons, that is, the salvation of our bodies.
If, after the way of men, I was fighting with beasts at Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not come to life again, let us take our pleasure in feasting, for tomorrow we come to an end.
If, after the way of men, I was fighting with beasts at Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not come to life again, let us take our pleasure in feasting, for tomorrow we come to an end.
But these men, like beasts without reason, whose natural use is to be taken and put to death, crying out against things of which they have no knowledge, will undergo that same destruction which they are designing for others;
But these men, like beasts without reason, whose natural use is to be taken and put to death, crying out against things of which they have no knowledge, will undergo that same destruction which they are designing for others;
And a great sign was seen in heaven: a A woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
And a great sign was seen in heaven: a A woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
And one of the seven angels who had the seven vessels came and said to me, Come here, so that you may see the judging of the evil woman who is seated on the great waters;
And one of the seven angels who had the seven vessels came and said to me, Come here, so that you may see the judging of the evil woman who is seated on the great waters;
And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will be turned against the evil woman, and will make her waste and uncovered, and will take her flesh for food, and will have her burned with fire.
And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will be turned against the evil woman, and will make her waste and uncovered, and will take her flesh for food, and will have her burned with fire.
Hastings
BEAST
1. In OT (1) beh
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And the Lord said, I will take away man, whom I have made, from the face of the earth, even man and beast and that which goes on the earth and every bird of the air; for I have sorrow for having made them.
Of every clean beast you will take seven males and seven females, and of the beasts which are not clean, two, the male and his female;
And with them, every sort of beast and cattle, and every sort of thing which goes on the earth, and every sort of bird.
And God kept Noah in mind, and all the living things and the cattle which were with him in the ark: and God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters went down.
And the fear of you will be strong in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air; everything which goes on the land, and all the fishes of the sea, are given into your hands.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Put your goods on your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan;
And it will become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and will be a skin-disease bursting out in wounds on man and beast through all the land of Egypt. So they took some dust from the fire, and placing themselves before Pharaoh, Moses sent it out in a shower up to heaven; and it became a skin-disease bursting out on man and on beast.
And through all the land of Egypt the ice-storm came down on everything which was in the fields, on man and on beast; and every green plant was crushed and every tree of the field broken.
If a man makes a fire in a field or a vine-garden, and lets the fire do damage to another man's field, he is to give of the best produce of his field or his vine-garden to make up for it.
Say to the children of Israel: These are the living things which you may have for food among all the beasts on the earth.
It is uprooted by the pigs from the woods, the beasts of the field get their food from it.
And he was in the waste land for forty days, being tested by Satan; and he was with the beasts; and the angels took care of him.
And when the people saw it hanging on his hand, they said to one another, Without doubt this man has put someone to death, and though he has got safely away from the sea, God will not let him go on living.
One of their prophets has said, The men of Crete are ever false, evil beasts, lovers of food, hating work.
For the order which said, If the mountain is touched even by a beast, the beast is to be stoned, seemed hard to them;
For every sort of beast and bird and every living thing on earth and in the sea has been controlled by man and is under his authority;
Morish
Besides the ordinary use of this word
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And every beast and bird and every living thing of every sort which goes on the earth, went out of the ark.
So they took some dust from the fire, and placing themselves before Pharaoh, Moses sent it out in a shower up to heaven; and it became a skin-disease bursting out on man and on beast.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judging is like the great deep; O Lord, you give life to man and beast.
As for me, I was foolish, and without knowledge; I was like a beast before you.
Give your mind to my words, you who are without wisdom among the people; you foolish men, when will you be wise?
But they are together like beasts and foolish: the teaching of false gods is wood.
Then every man becomes like a beast without knowledge; every gold-worker is put to shame by the image he has made: for his metal image is deceit, and there is no breath in them.
For the keepers of the sheep have become like beasts, not looking to the Lord for directions: so they have not done wisely and all their flocks have been put to flight.
Then every man becomes like a beast without knowledge; every gold-worker is put to shame by the image he has made: for his metal image is deceit, and there is no breath in them.
And four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings; while I was watching its wings were pulled off, and it was lifted up from the earth and placed on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. read more. And I saw another beast, like a bear, and it was lifted up on one side, and three side-bones were in its mouth, between its teeth: and they said to it, Up! take much flesh. After this I saw another beast, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings like those of a bird; and the beast had four heads, and the power of a ruler was given to it. After this, in my vision of the night, I saw a fourth beast, a thing causing fear and very troubling, full of power and very strong; and it had great iron teeth: it took its food, crushing some of it to bits and stamping down the rest with its feet: it was different from all the beasts before it; and it had ten horns. I was watching the horns with care, and I saw another coming up among them, a little one, before which three of the first horns were pulled up by the roots: and there were eyes like a man's eyes in this horn, and a mouth saying great things. I went on looking till the seats of kings were placed, and one like a very old man took his seat: his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like clean wool; his seat was flames of fire and its wheels burning fire. A stream of fire was flowing and coming out from before him: a thousand thousands were his servants, and ten thousand times ten thousand were in their places before him: the judge was seated and the books were open. Then I saw--because of the voice of the great words which the horn said--I saw till the beast was put to death, and its body was given to destruction, and the beast was given to the burning of fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their authority was taken away: but they let them go on living for a measure of time. I saw in visions of the night, and there was coming with the clouds of heaven one like a man, and he came to the one who was very old, and they took him near before him. And to him was given authority and glory and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages were his servants: his authority is an eternal authority which will not come to an end, and his kingdom is one which will not come to destruction. As for me, Daniel, my spirit was pained because of this, and the visions of my head were troubling me. I came near to one of those who were waiting there, questioning him about what all this was. And he said to me that he would make clear to me the sense of these things. These great beasts are four kings who will be cut off from the earth. But the saints of the Most High will take the kingdom, and it will be theirs for ever, even for ever and ever. Then it was my desire to have certain knowledge about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, a cause of great fear, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass; who took his food, crushing some of it to bits and stamping on the rest with his feet; And about the ten horns on his head and the other which came up, causing the fall of three; that horn which had eyes, and a mouth saying great things, which seemed to be greater than the other horns. And I saw how that horn made war on the saints and overcame them, Till he came, who was very old, and the decision was made and the authority was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came when the saints took the kingdom. This is what he said: The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom which will come on earth, different from all the kingdoms, and it will overcome all the earth, crushing it down and smashing it.
And before the high seat there was, as it seemed, a clear sea of glass; and in the middle of the high seat, and round about it, four beasts full of eyes round about. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second like an ox, and the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. read more. And the four beasts, having every one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and inside: and without resting day and night, they say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, Ruler of all, who was and is and is to come. And when the beasts give glory and honour to him who is seated on the high seat, to him who is living for ever and ever,
And he took his place on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads unholy names.
And the Evil One who put them in error was sent down into the sea of ever-burning fire, where the beast and the false prophet are, and their punishment will go on day and night for ever and ever.