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 saith unto Joseph, 'Say unto thy brethren, This do ye: lade your beasts, and go, enter ye the land of Canaan,
and the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah thy God; thou dost not do any work, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and thy cattle, and thy sojourner who is within thy gates, --
When a man depastureth a field or vineyard, and hath sent out his beast, and it hath pastured in the field of another, of the best of his field, and the best of his vineyard, he doth repay.
and the seventh thou dost release it, and hast left it, and the needy of thy people have eaten, and their leaving doth the beast of the field eat; so dost thou to thy vineyard -- to thine olive-yard. 'Six days thou dost do thy work, and on the seventh day thou dost rest, so that thine ox and thine ass doth rest, and the son of thine handmaid and the sojourner is refreshed;
Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, This is the beast which ye do eat out of all the beasts which are on the earth: any dividing a hoof, and cleaving the cleft of the hoofs, bringing up the cud, among the beasts, it ye do eat. read more. Only, this ye do not eat -- of those bringing up the cud, and of those dividing the hoof -- the camel, though it is bringing up the cud, yet the hoof not dividing -- it is unclean to you; and the rabbit, though it is bringing up the cud, yet the hoof it divideth not -- unclean it is to you; and the hare, though it is bringing up the cud, yet the hoof hath not divided -- unclean it is to you; and the sow, though it is dividing the hoof, and cleaving the cleft of the hoof, yet the cud it bringeth not up -- unclean it is to you.
My statutes ye do keep: thy cattle thou dost not cause to gender with diverse kinds; thy field thou dost not sow with diverse kinds, and a garment of diverse kinds, shaatnez, doth not go up upon thee.
As to a bruised, or beaten, or enlarged, or cut thing -- ye do not bring it near to Jehovah; even in your land ye do not do it.
and to thy cattle, and to the beast which is in thy land, is all thine increase for food.
Only, a firstling which is Jehovah's firstling among beasts -- no man doth sanctify it, whether ox or sheep; it is Jehovah's.
and why have ye brought in the assembly of Jehovah unto this wilderness to die there, we and our beasts?
'Take the rod, and assemble the company, thou and Aaron thy brother; and ye have spoken unto the rock before their eyes, and it hath given its water, and thou hast brought out to them water from the rock, and hast watered the company, and their beasts.'
and Moses lifteth up his hand, and smiteth the rock with his rod twice; and much water cometh out, and the company drink, also their beasts.
'Thou dost not plow with an ox and with an ass together.
'Thou dost not muzzle an ox in its threshing.
And to the dust of death thou appointest me, For surrounded me have dogs, A company of evil doers have compassed me, Piercing my hands and my feet.
Thy righteousness is as mountains of God, Thy judgments are a great deep. Man and beast Thou savest, O Jehovah.
And delivereth up to the hail their beasts, And their cattle to the burning flames.
She hath slaughtered her slaughter, She hath mingled her wine, Yea, she hath arranged her table.
I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves are beasts.
And a wolf hath sojourned with a lamb, And a leopard with a kid doth lie down, And calf, and young lion, and fatling are together, And a little youth is leader over them. And cow and bear do feed, Together lie down their young ones, And a lion as an ox eateth straw. read more. And played hath a suckling by the hole of an asp, And on the den of a cockatrice Hath the weaned one put his hand.
A company of camels covereth thee, Dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, All of them from Sheba do come, Gold and frankincense they bear, And of the praises of Jehovah they proclaim the tidings.
These great beasts, that are four, are four kings, they rise up from the earth;
'Thus he said: The fourth beast is the fourth kingdom in the earth, that is diverse from all kingdoms, and it consumeth all the earth, and treadeth it down, and breaketh it small.
and having come near, he bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and having lifted him up on his own beast, he brought him to an inn, and was careful of him;
and God did turn, and did give them up to do service to the host of the heaven, according as it hath been written in the scroll of the prophets: Slain beasts and sacrifices did ye offer to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
and the whole city was filled with confusion, they rushed also with one accord into the theatre, having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's fellow-travellers.
beasts also provide, that, having set Paul on, they may bring him safe unto Felix the governor;'
if after the manner of a man with wild beasts I fought in Ephesus, what the advantage to me if the dead do not rise? let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die!
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another of fishes, and another of birds;
and these, as irrational natural beasts, made to be caught and destroyed -- in what things they are ignorant of, speaking evil -- in their destruction shall be destroyed,
and cinnamon, and odours, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and 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 Jehovah God formeth from the ground every beast of the field, and every fowl of the heavens, and bringeth in unto the man, to see what he doth call it; and whatever the man calleth a living creature, that is its name.
And Jehovah God formeth from the ground every beast of the field, and every fowl of the heavens, and bringeth in unto the man, to see what he doth call it; and whatever the man calleth a living creature, that is its name.
and your fear and your dread is on every beast of the earth, and on every fowl of the heavens, on all that creepeth on the ground, and on all fishes of the sea -- into your hand they have been given.
and your fear and your dread is on every beast of the earth, and on every fowl of the heavens, on all that creepeth on the ground, and on all fishes of the sea -- into your hand they have been given.
'And I, lo, I am establishing My covenant with you, and with your seed after you,
'And I, lo, I am establishing My covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature which is with you, among fowl, among cattle, and among every beast of the earth with you, from all who are going out of the ark -- to every beast of the earth.
and with every living creature which is with you, among fowl, among cattle, and among every beast of the earth with you, from all who are going out of the ark -- to every beast of the earth.
and Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, 'Say unto thy brethren, This do ye: lade your beasts, and go, enter ye the land of Canaan,
and Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, 'Say unto thy brethren, This do ye: lade your beasts, and go, enter ye the land of Canaan,
if the theft is certainly found in his hand alive, whether ox, or ass, or sheep -- double he repayeth.
if the theft is certainly found in his hand alive, whether ox, or ass, or sheep -- double he repayeth.
'When a bird's nest cometh before thee in the way, in any tree, or on the earth, brood or eggs, and the mother sitting on the brood or on the eggs, thou dost not take the mother with the young ones;
'When a bird's nest cometh before thee in the way, in any tree, or on the earth, brood or eggs, and the mother sitting on the brood or on the eggs, thou dost not take the mother with the young ones; thou dost certainly send away the mother, and the young ones dost take to thyself, so that it is well with thee, and thou hast prolonged days.
thou dost certainly send away the mother, and the young ones dost take to thyself, so that it is well with thee, and thou hast prolonged days.
And man in honour doth not remain, He hath been like the beasts, they have been cut off.
And man in honour doth not remain, He hath been like the beasts, they have been cut off.
Rebuke a beast of the reeds, a company of bulls, With calves of the peoples, Each humbling himself with pieces of silver, Scatter Thou peoples delighting in conflicts.
Rebuke a beast of the reeds, a company of bulls, With calves of the peoples, Each humbling himself with pieces of silver, Scatter Thou peoples delighting in conflicts.
And I am brutish, and do not know. A beast I have been with Thee.
And I am brutish, and do not know. A beast I have been with Thee.
And delivereth up to the hail their beasts, And their cattle to the burning flames.
And delivereth up to the hail their beasts, And their cattle to the burning flames.
Who knoweth the spirit of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the spirit of the beast that is going down below to the earth?
Who knoweth the spirit of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the spirit of the beast that is going down below to the earth?
How hath a faithful city become a harlot? I have filled it with judgment, Righteousness lodgeth in it -- now murderers.
How hath a faithful city become a harlot? I have filled it with judgment, Righteousness lodgeth in it -- now murderers.
And it hath come to pass, In the latter end of the days, Established is the mount of Jehovah's house, Above the top of the mounts, And it hath been lifted up above the heights, And flowed unto it have all the nations.
And it hath come to pass, In the latter end of the days, Established is the mount of Jehovah's house, Above the top of the mounts, And it hath been lifted up above the heights, And flowed unto it have all the nations.
Instruct thee doth thy wickedness, And thy backslidings reprove thee, Know and see that an evil and a bitter thing Is thy forsaking Jehovah thy God, And My fear not being on thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.
Instruct thee doth thy wickedness, And thy backslidings reprove thee, Know and see that an evil and a bitter thing Is thy forsaking Jehovah thy God, And My fear not being on thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.
Lo, I am against thee, O destroying mount, An affirmation of Jehovah, That is destroying all the earth, And I have stretched out My hand against thee, And I have rolled thee from the rocks, And given thee for a burnt mountain.
Lo, I am against thee, O destroying mount, An affirmation of Jehovah, That is destroying all the earth, And I have stretched out My hand against thee, And I have rolled thee from the rocks, And given thee for a burnt mountain.
and I -- have not I pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than twelve myriads of human beings, who have not known between their right hand and their left -- and much cattle!'
and I -- have not I pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than twelve myriads of human beings, who have not known between their right hand and their left -- and much cattle!'
because the mind of the flesh is enmity to God, for to the law of God it doth not subject itself,
because the mind of the flesh is enmity to God, for to the law of God it doth not subject itself,
for to vanity was the creation made subject -- not of its will, but because of Him who did subject it -- in hope,
for to vanity was the creation made subject -- not of its will, but because of Him who did subject it -- in hope, that also the creation itself shall be set free from the servitude of the corruption to the liberty of the glory of the children of God;
that also the creation itself shall be set free from the servitude of the corruption to the liberty of the glory of the children of God; for we have known that all the creation doth groan together, and doth travail in pain together till now.
for we have known that all the creation doth groan together, and doth travail in pain together till now. And not only so, but also we ourselves, having the first-fruit of the Spirit, we also ourselves in ourselves do groan, adoption expecting -- the redemption of our body;
And not only so, but also we ourselves, having the first-fruit of the Spirit, we also ourselves in ourselves do groan, adoption expecting -- the redemption of our body;
if after the manner of a man with wild beasts I fought in Ephesus, what the advantage to me if the dead do not rise? let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die!
if after the manner of a man with wild beasts I fought in Ephesus, what the advantage to me if the dead do not rise? let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die!
and these, as irrational natural beasts, made to be caught and destroyed -- in what things they are ignorant of, speaking evil -- in their destruction shall be destroyed,
and these, as irrational natural beasts, made to be caught and destroyed -- in what things they are ignorant of, speaking evil -- in their destruction shall be destroyed,
And a great sign was seen in the heaven, a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars,
And a great sign was seen in the heaven, a woman arrayed 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 messengers, who were having the seven vials, and he spake with me, saying to me, 'Come, I will shew to thee the judgment of the great whore, who is sitting upon the many waters,
And there came one of the seven messengers, who were having the seven vials, and he spake with me, saying to me, 'Come, I will shew to thee the judgment of the great whore, who is sitting upon the many waters,
and the ten horns that thou didst see upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her in fire,
and the ten horns that thou didst see upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her in fire,
Hastings
BEAST
1. In OT (1) beh
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And Jehovah saith, 'I wipe away man whom I have prepared from off the face of the ground, from man unto beast, unto creeping thing, and unto fowl of the heavens, for I have repented that I have made them.'
of all the clean beasts thou dost take to thee seven pairs, a male and its female; and of the beasts which are not clean two, a male and its female;
they, and every living creature after its kind, and every beast after its kind, and every creeping thing that is creeping on the earth after its kind, and every fowl after its kind, every bird -- every wing.
And God remembereth Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle which are with him in the ark, and God causeth a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subside,
and your fear and your dread is on every beast of the earth, and on every fowl of the heavens, on all that creepeth on the ground, and on all fishes of the sea -- into your hand they have been given.
and Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, 'Say unto thy brethren, This do ye: lade your beasts, and go, enter ye the land of Canaan,
and it hath become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and it hath become on man and on cattle a boil breaking forth with blains, in all the land of Egypt.' And they take the soot of the furnace, and stand before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkleth it towards the heavens, and it is a boil with blains, breaking forth, on man and on beast;
And the hail smiteth in all the land of Egypt all that is in the field, from man even unto beast, and every herb of the field hath the hail smitten, and every tree of the field it hath broken;
When a man depastureth a field or vineyard, and hath sent out his beast, and it hath pastured in the field of another, of the best of his field, and the best of his vineyard, he doth repay.
Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, This is the beast which ye do eat out of all the beasts which are on the earth:
I have known every fowl of the mountains, And the wild beast of the field is with Me.
A boar out of the forest doth waste it, And a wild beast of the fields consumeth it.
and he was there in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by the Adversary, and he was with the beasts, and the messengers were ministering to him.
And when the foreigners saw the beast hanging from his hand, they said unto one another, 'Certainly this man is a murderer, whom, having been saved out of the sea, the justice did not suffer to live;'
A certain one of them, a prophet of their own, said -- 'Cretans! always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies!'
for they were not bearing that which is commanded, 'And if a beast may touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or with an arrow shot through,'
For every nature, both of beasts and of fowls, both of creeping things and things of the sea, is subdued, and hath been subdued, by the human nature,
Morish
Besides the ordinary use of this word
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every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl; every creeping thing on the earth, after their families, have gone out from the ark.
And they take the soot of the furnace, and stand before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkleth it towards the heavens, and it is a boil with blains, breaking forth, on man and on beast;
Thy righteousness is as mountains of God, Thy judgments are a great deep. Man and beast Thou savest, O Jehovah.
And I am brutish, and do not know. A beast I have been with Thee.
And in one they are brutish and foolish, An instruction of vanities is the tree itself.
Brutish is every man by knowledge, Put to shame is every refiner by a graven image, For false is his molten image. And there is no breath in them.
For the shepherds have become brutish, And Jehovah they have not sought, Therefore they have not acted wisely, And all their flock is scattered.
Brutish hath been every man by knowledge, Put to shame hath been every refiner by a graven image, For false is his molten image, And there is no breath in them.
and four great beasts are coming up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first is like a lion, and it hath an eagle's wings. I was seeing till that its wings have been plucked, and it hath been lifted up from the earth, and on feet as a man it hath been caused to stand, and a heart of man is given to it. read more. And lo, another beast, a second, like to a bear, and to the same authority it hath been raised, and three ribs are in its mouth, between its teeth, and thus they are saying to it, Rise, consume much flesh. 'After this I was seeing, and lo, another like a leopard, and it hath four wings of a fowl on its back, and four heads hath the beast, and dominion is given to it. After this I was seeing in the visions of the night, and lo, a fourth beast, terrible and fearful, and exceedingly strong; and it hath iron teeth very great, it hath consumed, yea, it doth break small, and the remnant with its feet it hath trampled; and it is diverse from all the beasts that are before it; and it hath ten horns. I was considering about the horns, and lo, another horn, a little one, hath come up between them, and three of the first horns have been eradicated from before it, and lo, eyes as the eyes of man are in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things. I was seeing till that thrones have been thrown down, and the Ancient of Days is seated, His garment as snow is white, and the hair of his head is as pure wool, His throne flames of fire, its wheels burning fire. A flood of fire is proceeding and coming forth from before Him, a thousand thousands do serve Him, and a myriad of myriads before Him do rise up, the Judge is seated, and the books have been opened. 'I was seeing, then, because of the voice of the great words that the horn is speaking, I was seeing till that the beast is slain, and his body hath been destroyed, and given to the burning fire; and the rest of the beasts have caused their dominion to pass away, and a prolongation in life is given to them, till a season and a time. I was seeing in the visions of the night, and lo, with the clouds of the heavens as a son of man was one coming, and unto the Ancient of Days he hath come, and before Him they have brought him near. And to him is given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and languages do serve him, his dominion is a dominion age-during, that passeth not away, and his kingdom that which is not destroyed. Pierced hath been my spirit -- I, Daniel -- in the midst of the sheath, and the visions of my head trouble me; I have drawn near unto one of those standing, and the certainty I seek from him of all this; and he hath said to me, yea, the interpretation of the things he hath caused me to know: These great beasts, that are four, are four kings, they rise up from the earth; and receive the kingdom do the saints of the Most High, and they strengthen the kingdom unto the age, even unto the age of the ages. 'Then I wished for certainty concerning the fourth beast, that was diverse from them all, fearful exceedingly; its teeth of iron, and its nails of brass, it hath devoured, it doth break small, and the remnant with its feet it hath trampled; and concerning the ten horns that are in its heads, and of the other that came up, and before which three have fallen, even of that horn that hath eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and whose appearance is great above its companions. 'I was seeing, and this horn is making war with the saints, and hath prevailed over them, till that the Ancient of Days hath come, and judgment is given to the saints of the Most High, and the time hath come, and the saints have strengthened the kingdom. 'Thus he said: The fourth beast is the fourth kingdom in the earth, that is diverse from all kingdoms, and it consumeth all the earth, and treadeth it down, and breaketh it small.
and before the throne is a sea of glass like to crystal, and in the midst of the throne, and round the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes before and behind; and the first living creature is like a lion, and the second living creature is like a calf, and the third living creature hath the face as a man, and the fourth living creature is like an eagle flying. read more. And the four living creatures, each by itself severally, had six wings, around and within are full of eyes, and rest they have not day and night, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is coming;' and when the living creatures do give glory, and honour, and thanks, to Him who is sitting upon the throne, who is living to the ages of the ages,
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw out of the sea a beast coming up, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads a name of evil speaking,
and the Devil, who is leading them astray, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night -- to the ages of the ages.