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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Do this: load your beasts and go into the land of Canaan,
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.
If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his animal, and shall feed in another man's field; he shall repay from the best of his own field, and the best of his own vineyard.
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.
You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with different kinds. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed. And you shall not allow clothing mixed of linen and wool to come on you.
You shall not offer to Jehovah that which is bruised or crushed, or broken or cut. You shall not make any offering of it in your land.
and for your cattle, and for the beast that is in your land, shall all the increase of it be for food.
However, the first-born of an animal, which should be Jehovah's first-born, no man shall sanctify it, whether an ox, or sheep, it is Jehovah's.
And why have you brought up the congregation of Jehovah into this wilderness, so that we and our cattle should die there?
Take the rod, and gather the assembly, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes. And it shall give forth its water, and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock. So you shall give the congregation and their animals drink.
And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he struck the rock twice. And the water came out plentifully, and the congregation and their animals drank.
You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together.
You shall not muzzle an ox when he treads out the grain.
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.
He gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire.
she has killed her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
I said in my heart concerning the matter of sons of men, that God might reveal them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Also the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the cub lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And 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 suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
A host of camels shall cover you, the camels of Midian and Ephah. All of them from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah.
And four great beasts came up from the sea, different from one another.
These four great beasts are four kings; they shall arise out of the earth.
And he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth, and shall trample it and crush it.
And coming near, he bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
Then God turned and gave them over to serve the host of the heavens, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: "O house of Israel, have you offered to Me slain beasts and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness?
And all the city was filled with confusion. And they rushed with one accord to the theater, keeping a firm grip on Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, traveling companions of Paul.
And provide animals, so that they may set Paul on them and bring him to Felix the governor.
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!"
All flesh is not the same flesh; but one kind of flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another of fish, and another of birds.
But these, as unreasoning natural brute animals having been born for capture and corruption, speak evil of the things that they do not understand. And they will utterly perish in their own corruption,
and cinnamon, and incenses, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, 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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every animal of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every animal of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon the animals of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon all that moves on the earth, and upon all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon the animals of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon all that moves on the earth, and upon all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.
Behold! I, even I, establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
Behold! I, even I, establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, of the birds, of the cattle, and of every animal of the earth with you; from all that go out from the ark, to every animal of the earth.
and with every living creature that is with you, of the birds, of the cattle, and of every animal of the earth with you; from all that go out from the ark, to every animal of the earth.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Do this: load your beasts and go into the land of Canaan,
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Do this: load your beasts and go into the land of Canaan,
If the theft is certainly found in his hand alive, whether it is an ox, or an ass, or a sheep, he shall restore double.
If the theft is certainly found in his hand alive, whether it is an ox, or an ass, or a sheep, he shall restore double.
If a bird's nest happens to be before you in the way in any tree, or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young.
If a bird's nest happens to be before you in the way in any tree, or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall in every case let the mother go and take the young for yourself, so that it may be well with you, and you may make your days longer.
You shall in every case let the mother go and take the young for yourself, so that it may be well with you, and you may make your days longer.
But man, though high in honor, does not remain; he is like the animals that perish.
But man, though high in honor, does not remain; he is like the animals that perish.
Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds, the herd of bulls, with the calves of the peoples, trampling down with the pieces of silver. He scatters the people who delight in war.
Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds, the herd of bulls, with the calves of the peoples, trampling down with the pieces of silver. He scatters the people who delight in war.
So foolish was I, and I did not know; I was like a beast before You.
So foolish was I, and I did not know; I was like a beast before You.
He gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire.
He gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire.
Who knows the spirit of man that goes upward, and the spirit of the beast that goes downward?
Who knows the spirit of man that goes upward, and the spirit of the beast that goes downward?
How has the faithful city become a harlot? It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.
How has the faithful city become a harlot? It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.
And it shall be, in the last days the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it.
And it shall be, in the last days the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it.
Your own evil shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you, therefore know and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken Jehovah your God, and that My fear is not in you, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.
Your own evil shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you, therefore know and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken Jehovah your God, and that My fear is not in you, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.
Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says Jehovah, who destroys all the earth. And I will stretch out My hand on you and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burned mountain.
Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says Jehovah, who destroys all the earth. And I will stretch out My hand on you and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burned mountain.
And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than a hundred and twenty thousand men who do not know between their right and their left hand, besides much cattle?
And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than a hundred and twenty thousand men who do not know between their right and their left hand, besides much cattle?
because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can it be.
because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can it be.
For the creation was not willingly subjected to vanity, but because of Him who subjected it on hope
For the creation was not willingly subjected to vanity, but because of Him who subjected it on hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. And we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
And we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruit of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body.
And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruit of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body.
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!"
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!"
But these, as unreasoning natural brute animals having been born for capture and corruption, speak evil of the things that they do not understand. And they will utterly perish in their own corruption,
But these, as unreasoning natural brute animals having been born for capture and corruption, speak evil of the things that they do not understand. And they will utterly perish in their own corruption,
And there appeared a great sign in the heavens, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head,
And there appeared a great sign in the heavens, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head,
And one of the seven angels who had the seven vials came and talked with me, saying to me, Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot sitting on many waters,
And one of the seven angels who had the seven vials came and talked with me, saying to me, Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot sitting on many waters,
and the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked. And they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
and the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked. And they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
Hastings
BEAST
1. In OT (1) beh
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air. For I repent that I have made them.
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.
They went in, and every animal after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth after its kind, and every fowl after its kind, every bird of every sort.
And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle which were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon the animals of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon all that moves on the earth, and upon all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Do this: load your beasts and go into the land of Canaan,
And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with sores upon man and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses sprinkled it up toward the sky, and it became a boil breaking forth with sores upon man and upon beast.
And the hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast. And the hail struck every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field.
If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his animal, and shall feed in another man's field; he shall repay from the best of his own field, and the best of his own vineyard.
Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, These are the animals which you shall eat among all the animals that are in the earth.
I know all the birds of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
The boar out of the wood wastes it, and the wild beast of the field eats it.
And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan. And He was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered to Him.
And when the foreigners saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, being saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed to live.
One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.
for they could not endure the thing commanded, "And if so much as a beast should touch the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart,"
For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of sea-animals, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind.
Morish
Besides the ordinary use of this word
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Every animal, every fowl, and every creeping thing, all which creeps upon the earth after their families, went forth out of the ark.
And they took ashes of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses sprinkled it up toward the sky, and it became a boil breaking forth with sores upon man and upon beast.
Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Jehovah, You keep man and beast.
So foolish was I, and I did not know; I was like a beast before You.
Understand, you beastly ones among the people; and fools, when will you be wise?
But they are all at once foolish and animal-like; the tree is an example of vanities.
Every man is stupid for lack of knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by the graven image; for his molten image is a lie, and no breath is in them.
For the pastors have become stupid, and have not sought Jehovah, therefore they shall not be blessed, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
Every man is brutish in knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by idols. For his molded image is a lie, and no breath is in them.
And four great beasts came up from the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I watched until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on its feet like a man. And a man's heart was given to it. read more. And behold another beast, a second, like a bear. And it raised itself up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said this to it: Arise, eat up much flesh. After this I saw, and lo, another, like a leopard, which had four wings of a bird on its back. The beast also had four heads; and rulership was given to it. After this I looked in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, frightening and terrifying, and very strong. And it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts before it; and it had ten horns. I was thinking about the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom three of the first horns were uprooted. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. I watched until the thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days sat, whose robe was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool. His throne was like flames of fire, and His wheels like burning fire. A stream of fire went out and came out from before Him. A thousand thousands served Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. Then I was looking because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke. I watched until the beast was slain, and his body was destroyed and given to the burning flame. And the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away. Yet their lives were made longer for a season and time. I saw in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And dominion and glory was given Him, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages, should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. I Daniel was distressed in my spirit in its body, and the visions of my head troubled me. And I came near one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the meaning of the things. These four great beasts are four kings; they shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Then I wanted to know the truth of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, very frightening, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of bronze; who devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with his feet; and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking very great things, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. I watched, and that horn made war with the saints and overcame them until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High. And the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. And he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth, and shall trample it and crush it.
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 the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. read more. And each one of the four living creatures had six wings about him, and within being full of eyes. And they had no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And whenever the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks to Him who sat on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
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.
And the Devil who deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were . And he will be tormented day and night forever and ever.