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 unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, Do this: lade your beasts and go, return unto the land of Canaan
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;
If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten and shall put in his beast and shall feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field and of the best of his own vineyard shall he make restitution.
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.
Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy animal join with a diverse kind for mixtures; thou shalt not sow thy field with mixture, neither shalt thou wear garments of a mixture of different things.
Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised or crushed or broken or cut; neither shall ye do thus in all your land.
and for thy beast and for the animals that are in thy land shall all the fruit thereof be food.
But the firstborn of the animals, which because it is firstborn belongs to the LORD, no one shall sanctify it; whether it is ox or sheep, it is the LORD's.
And why have ye caused the congregation of the LORD to come into this wilderness that we and our beasts should die here?
Take the rod and gather the congregation together, thou and Aaron, thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth its water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
Then Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice; and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.
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.
He gave up their cattle also to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts of fire.
She has killed her sacrifice; she has mingled her wine; and she has furnished her table.
I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men that God might manifest them and that they might see that they themselves are beasts one to another.
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a child shall shepherd them. The cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. read more. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the LORD.
And four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from another.
These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise in the earth.
Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth king in earth, which shall be greater than all the other kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
Then God withdrew and gave them up to worship the host of the heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
And the whole city was filled with confusion, and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
and provide them beasts that they may set Paul on and bring him safe unto Felix the governor.
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.
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
But these, speaking evil of the things that they do not understand (as natural animals without reason, who are made to be taken and destroyed), shall utterly perish in their own corruption,
and cinnamon and odours and ointments and frankincense and wine and oil and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and of sheep, and of horses, and of chariots and of bodies 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 out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living soul, that was its name.
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living soul, that was its name.
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every animal of the earth and upon every fowl of the heavens, upon all that moves upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand they are delivered.
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every animal of the earth and upon every fowl of the heavens, upon all that moves upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand they are delivered.
Behold that I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you
Behold that I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you and with every living soul that is with you, of the fowl, of the animals, and of every beast of the earth with you, from all that go out of the ark to every animal of the earth,
and with every living soul that is with you, of the fowl, of the animals, and of every beast of the earth with you, from all that go out of the ark to every animal of the earth,
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, Do this: lade your beasts and go, return unto the land of Canaan
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, Do this: lade your beasts and go, return unto the land of Canaan
If he is found with the theft in his hand, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double.
If he is found with the theft in his hand, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double.
If a bird's nest is encountered before thee in the way in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the mother with the young.
If a bird's nest is encountered before thee in the way in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the mother with the young. But thou shalt let the mother go and take the young for thyself, that it may be well with thee and that thou may prolong thy days.
But thou shalt let the mother go and take the young for thyself, that it may be well with thee and that thou may prolong thy days.
Nevertheless man will not abide forever in honour; he is like the beasts that are cut off.
Nevertheless man will not abide forever in honour; he is like the beasts that are cut off.
Reprehend the company of spearmen, the multitude of the strong, with the lords of the peoples, trampling them underfoot with their pieces of silver; Destroy thou the peoples that delight in war.
Reprehend the company of spearmen, the multitude of the strong, with the lords of the peoples, trampling them underfoot with their pieces of silver; Destroy thou the peoples that delight in war.
But I was ignorant and did not understand; I was as a beast before thee.
But I was ignorant and did not understand; I was as a beast before thee.
He gave up their cattle also to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts of fire.
He gave up their cattle also to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts of fire.
Who knows that the spirit of the sons of men goes upward and that the spirit of the beast goes downward to the earth?
Who knows that the spirit of the sons of men goes upward and that the spirit of the beast goes downward to the earth?
How is the faithful city become a harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.
How is the faithful city become a harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.
And it shall come to pass in the last of the days or times, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be confirmed as the head of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; and all the Gentiles shall flow unto it.
And it shall come to pass in the last of the days or times, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be confirmed as the head of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; and all the Gentiles shall flow unto it.
Thine own wickedness shall chastise thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore and see how evil and bitter it is, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God and that my fear is lacking in thee, saith the Lord GOD of the hosts.
Thine own wickedness shall chastise thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore and see how evil and bitter it is, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God and that my fear is lacking in thee, saith the Lord GOD of the hosts.
Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, said the LORD, which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee and roll thee down from the rocks and will make thee a burnt mountain.
Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, said the LORD, which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee and roll thee down from the rocks and will make thee a burnt mountain.
And shall I not spare Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons, that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and many animals?
And shall I not spare Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons, that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and many animals?
because the prudence of the flesh is enmity against God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, neither indeed can it.
because the prudence of the flesh is enmity against God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, neither indeed can it.
For the creatures were subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected them,
For the creatures were subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected them, with the hope that the same creatures shall be delivered from the slavery of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
with the hope that the same creatures shall be delivered from the slavery of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. For we now know that all the creatures groan together and travail in pain together until now.
For we now know that all the creatures groan together and travail in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is to say, the redemption of our body.
And not only they, but ourselves also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is to say, the redemption of our body.
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.
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.
But these, speaking evil of the things that they do not understand (as natural animals without reason, who are made to be taken and destroyed), shall utterly perish in their own corruption,
But these, speaking evil of the things that they do not understand (as natural animals without reason, who are made to be taken and destroyed), shall utterly perish in their own corruption,
And there appeared a great sign in the heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;
And there appeared a great sign in the heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;
And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven vials and talked with me, saying unto me, Come here; I will show unto thee the condemnation of the great whore that sits upon many waters,
And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven vials and talked with me, saying unto me, Come here; I will show unto thee the condemnation of the great whore that sits upon many waters,
And the ten horns which thou didst see upon the beast, these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
And the ten horns which thou didst see upon the beast, these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
Hastings
BEAST
1. In OT (1) beh
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And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the animals and the fowls of the air; for I repent of having made them.
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.
they and every animal after its kind and all the beasts after their kind and every creeping thing that moves upon the earth after its kind and every fowl after its kind, every bird, every thing with wings.
And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters ceased;
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every animal of the earth and upon every fowl of the heavens, upon all that moves upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand they are delivered.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, Do this: lade your beasts and go, return unto the land of Canaan
And it shall become dust upon all the land of Egypt, which shall cause boils breaking forth with blisters upon man and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took the soot of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and boils breaking forth with blisters came upon man and upon beast
And that hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both men and beasts; and the hail smote all the grass of the field and broke all the trees of the field.
If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten and shall put in his beast and shall feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field and of the best of his own vineyard shall he make restitution.
Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, These are the animals which ye shall eat among all the animals that are on the earth.
I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are with me.
The boar out of the wood wastes it, and the wild beast of the field devours it.
And he was there in the wilderness forty days and forty nights and was tempted of Satan and was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto him.
And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet vengeance does not suffer him to live.
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies.
(for they could not endure that which was commanded, and if so much as a beast should touch the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart:
For every nature of beasts and of birds and of serpents and of beings in the sea may be tamed and is tamed by mankind,
Morish
Besides the ordinary use of this word
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all the animals, every creature and every fowl and whatever moves upon the earth after their kinds went forth out of the ark.
And they took the soot of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and boils breaking forth with blisters came upon man and upon beast
Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God; thy judgments are a great deep; O LORD, thou dost preserve man and beast.
But I was ignorant and did not understand; I was as a beast before thee.
Understand, ye carnal ones among the people, and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?
But they shall become altogether carnal and foolish. The stock is a doctrine of vanities.
Every man is carnal in his knowledge: let every founder be ashamed of his graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no spirit in them.
For the pastors are become carnal and have not sought the LORD; therefore they did not understand, and all their flocks scattered.
Every man has become carnal and is without knowledge; let every founder be ashamed of the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, 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; I beheld until the its wings were plucked off, and it was removed from the earth, and it stood up on its feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. read more. And behold the second beast, like unto a bear, which went off to one side, and it had three ribs between its teeth; and thus was said unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and behold another, like a tiger, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; this beast also had four heads; and power was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold the fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and exceedingly strong; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and trod down that which was left with its feet; and it was very different from all the beasts that had been before her; and it had ten horns. As I was considering the horns, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking grand things. I beheld until thrones were placed, and an Elder of great age did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool: his throne a flame of fire, his wheels burning fire. A river of fire issued and came forth from before him; thousands of thousands served him, and ten thousands of ten thousands stood before him; the Judge sat down, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke; I beheld even until the beast was slain and its body was undone and given over to be burned in the fire. They had also taken from the other beasts their rule because their lives had been prolonged until a certain time. I saw in the vision of the night, and, behold, in the clouds of heaven like a Son of man that came and drew near unto the Elder of great age, and they brought him near before him. And he gave him dominion and glory and kingdom; and all the peoples, nations, and tongues served him: his dominion is an eternal dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom such that it shall never be corrupted. My spirit was troubled, I Daniel, in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head astonished me. I came near unto one of those that stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise in the earth. And they shall take the kingdom of the Holy One who is most High and possess the kingdom until the age and until the age of the ages. Then I had the desire to know the truth regarding the fourth beast, which was so different from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of brass; which devoured and broke in pieces and trod down that which was left with its feet; also regarding the ten horns that were in its head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; and that same horn had eyes and a mouth that spoke very grand things, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. I saw that this horn made war against the saints and overcame them; until such time as the Elder of great age came, and the judgment was given unto the saints of the most High; and the time came, and the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth king in earth, which shall be greater than all the other kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
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 the first animal was like a lion and the second animal like a calf, and the third animal had a face as a man, and the fourth animal was like a flying eagle. read more. And the four animals had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within, and they did not cease day or night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And when those animals give glory and honour and praise to the one that is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever,
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.
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.