Daniel 7:2

Contemporary English Version

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Daniel said, “In my vision at night I was watching, and suddenly the four winds of heaven stirred up the great sea.

Hebrew Names Version
Daniyel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the sky broke forth on the great sea.

King James Version
Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.

English Standard Version
Daniel declared, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

New American Standard Bible
Daniel said, "I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

New Century Version
Daniel said: "I saw my vision at night. In the vision the wind was blowing from all four directions, which made the sea very rough.

Amplified Bible
Daniel said, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea (the nations).

Geneva Bible (1587)
Daniel spake and saide, I sawe in my vision by night, and behold, the foure windes of the heauen stroue vpon the great sea:

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Daniel said, "I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

Berean Standard Bible
Daniel declared: "In my vision in the night I looked, and suddenly the four winds of heaven were churning up the Great Sea.

Complete Jewish Bible
"I had a vision at night; I saw there before me the four winds of the sky breaking out over the great sea,

Darby Translation
Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heavens broke forth upon the great sea.

Easy-to-Read Version
Daniel said, "I saw my vision at night. In the vision the wind was blowing from all four directions. These winds made the sea rough.

George Lamsa Translation
Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven stirred up the great sea.

Good News Translation
of what I saw that night: Winds were blowing from all directions and lashing the surface of the ocean.

Lexham English Bible
Daniel explained and said, "I was looking in my vision in the night, and look, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

Literal Translation
Daniel spoke and said, In my vision by night I was looking. And, behold, the four winds of the heavens were stirring up the Great Sea.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Daniel spake, and sayde: I sawe in my vision by nyght, and beholde: the foure wyndes of ye heauen stroue vpon the see,

American Standard Version
Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of heaven brake forth upon the great sea.

Bible in Basic English
I had a vision by night, and saw the four winds of heaven violently moving the great sea.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Daniel spoke and said: I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven broke forth upon the great sea.

King James Version (1611)
Daniel spake, and said, I saw in my vision by night, & behold, the foure windes of the heauen stroue vpon the great Sea.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Daniel spake and saide: I sawe in my vision by night, and beholde, the foure windes of heauen stroue vpon the great sea,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I Daniel beheld, and, lo, the four winds of heaven blew violently upon the great sea.

English Revised Version
Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven brake forth upon the great sea.

World English Bible
Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the sky broke forth on the great sea.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and seide, Y siy in my visioun in niyt, and lo! foure wyndis of heuene fouyten in the myddis of the greet see.

Update Bible Version
Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, look, the four winds of heaven broke forth on the great sea.

Webster's Bible Translation
Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea.

New English Translation
Daniel explained: "I was watching in my vision during the night as the four winds of the sky were stirring up the great sea.

New King James Version
Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.

New Living Translation
In my vision that night, I, Daniel, saw a great storm churning the surface of a great sea, with strong winds blowing from every direction.

New Life Bible
Daniel said, "In my dream at night I looked and saw the four winds of heaven causing waves in the great sea.

New Revised Standard
I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Daniel spake and said, I was looking, in my vision which came with the night, - when, lo! the four winds of the heavens, bursting forth upon the great sea;

Douay-Rheims Bible
I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heavens strove upon the great sea.

Revised Standard Version
Daniel said, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

Young's Literal Translation
Answered hath Daniel and said, `I was seeing in my vision by night, and lo, the four winds of the heavens are coming forth to the great sea;

THE MESSAGE
"In my dream that night I saw the four winds of heaven whipping up a great storm on the sea. Four huge animals, each different from the others, ascended out of the sea.

Contextual Overview

¹Daniel wrote: In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylonia, I had some dreams and visions while I was asleep one night, and I wrote them down. The four winds were stirring up the mighty sea, ³ when suddenly four powerful beasts came out of the sea. Each beast was different. ⁴ The first was like a lion with the wings of an eagle. As I watched, its wings were pulled off. Then it was lifted to an upright position and made to stand on two feet, just like a human, and it was given a human mind. ⁵ The second beast looked like a bear standing on its hind legs. It held three ribs in its teeth, and it was told, "Attack! Eat all the flesh you want." ⁶ The third beast was like a leopard—except that it had four wings and four heads. It was given authority to rule. ⁷ The fourth beast was stronger and more terrifying than the others. Its huge teeth were made of iron, and what it didn't grind with its teeth, it smashed with its feet. It was different from the others, and it had horns on its head—ten of them. ⁸ Just as I was thinking about these horns, a smaller horn appeared, and three of the other horns were pulled up by the roots to make room for it. This horn had the eyes of a human and a mouth that spoke with great pride.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the four: Revelation 7:1

the great: Revelation 17:15

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 49:36 - the four winds Daniel 7:7 - I saw Daniel 8:2 - I saw in Daniel 8:8 - toward Zechariah 1:8 - by night Zechariah 6:5 - spirits Revelation 13:1 - and saw

Cross-References

Genesis 7:1
The Lord told Noah: Take your whole family with you into the boat, because you are the only one on this earth who pleases me.

Genesis 7:8
He obeyed God and took a male and a female of each kind of animal and bird into the boat with him.

Genesis 7:11
Noah was six hundred years old when the water under the earth started gushing out everywhere. The sky opened like windows, and rain poured down for forty days and nights. All this began on the seventeenth day of the second month of the year.

Genesis 7:15
Noah took a male and a female of every living creature with him,

Genesis 7:19
Finally, the mighty flood was so deep that even the highest mountain peaks were almost twenty-five feet below the surface of the water.

Genesis 7:21
Not a bird, animal, reptile, or human was left alive anywhere on earth.

Genesis 8:20
Noah built an altar where he could offer sacrifices to the Lord . Then he offered on the altar one of each kind of animal and bird that could be used for a sacrifice.

Leviticus 10:10
You must learn the difference between what is holy and what isn't holy and between the clean and the unclean.

Ezekiel 44:23
Priests must teach my people the difference between what is sacred and what is ordinary, and between what is clean and what is unclean.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night,.... He declared he had had a vision by night, and this was the substance of it:

and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea: the east, west, north, and south winds, broke out from each of their quarters, and rushed in upon the great sea; either the Mediterranean, so called in comparison of the sea of Sodom, and the sea of Tiberias in Judea; or upon the waters of the main ocean, and raised up its waves, and seemed as it were to be striving and fighting with them, and put them into a strange agitation; by which may be meant the whole world, and the kingdoms and nations of it, because of its largeness, inconstancy, instability, and disquietude; see Revelation 17:15, and by the "four winds" some understand the angels, either good or bad, concerned in the affairs of Providence on earth, either by divine order or permission; or rather the kings of the earth raising commotions in it, striving and fighting with one another, either to defend or enlarge their dominions; and which have been the means in Providence of the rising up of some great state or monarchy, as after appears.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Daniel spake and said - That is, he spake and said in the manner intimated in the previous verse. It was by a record made at the time, and thus he might be said to speak to his own generation and to all future times.

I saw in my vision by night - I beheld in the vision; that is, he saw represented to him the scene which he proceeds to describe. He seemed to see the sea in a tempest, and these monsters come up from it, and the strange succession of events which followed.

And behold, the four winds of the heaven - The winds that blow under the heaven, or that seem to come from the heaven - or the air. Compare Jeremiah 49:36. The number of the winds is here referred to as four as they are now, as blowing mainly from the four quarters of the earth. Nothing is more common now than to designate them in this manner - as the east, the south, the west, the north wind. So the Latins - Eurus, Auster, Zephyrus, Boreas.

Strove - מגיחן megı̂ychân. Burst, or rushed forth; seemed to conflict together. The winds burst, rushed from all quarters, and seemed to meet on the sea, throwing it into wild commotion. The Hebrew word (גיח gı̂yach) means to break or burst forth, as a fountain or stream of waters, Job 40:23; an infant breaking forth from the womb, Job 38:8; a warrior rushing forth to battle, Ezekiel 32:2. Hence, the Chaldean to break forth; to rush forth as the winds. The symbol here would naturally denote some wild commotion among the nations, as if the winds of heaven should rush together in confusion.

Upon the great sea - This expression would properly apply to any great sea or ocean, but it is probable that the one that would occur to Daniel would be the Mediterranean Sea, as that was best known to him and his contemporaries. A heaving ocean - or an ocean tossed with storms - would be a natural emblem to denote a nation, or nations, agitated with internal conflicts, or nations in the midst of revolutions. Among the sacred poets and the prophets, hosts of armies invading a land are compared to overflowing waters, and mighty changes among the nations to the heaving billows of the ocean in a storm. Compare Jeremiah 46:7-8; Jeremiah 47:2; Isaiah 8:7-8; Isaiah 17:12; Isaiah 59:19; Daniel 11:40; Revelation 13:1. The classic reader will be reminded in the description here of the words of Virgil, AEn. I. 82, following:

“Ac venti, velut agmine facto

Qua data porta ruunt, et terras turbine perflant.

Incubuere mari, totumque a sedibus imis

Una Eurusque, Notusque ruunt, creberquc procellis.

Africus, et vastos volvunt ad littora fluctus.”

Compare also Ovid, Trist. I. 2, 25, following. It was from this agitated sea that the beasts that Daniel saw, representing successive kingdoms, seemed to rise; and the fair interpretation of this part of the symbol is, that there was, or would be, as it appeared in vision to Daniel, commotions among the nations resembling the sea driven by storms, and that from these commotions there would arise successive kingdoms having the characteristics specified by the appearance of the four beasts. We naturally look, in the fulfillment of this, to some state of things in which the nations were agitated and convulsed; in which they struggled against each other, as the winds strove upon the sea; a state of things which preceded the rise of these four successive kingdoms. Without now pretending to determine whether that was the time denoted by this, it is certain that all that is here said would find a counterpart in the period which immediately preceded the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, or the kingdom which he founded and adorned. His rapid and extensive conquests; the agitation of the nations in self-defense, and their wars against one another, would be well denoted by the agitation of the ocean as seen in vision by Daniel. It is true that there have been many other periods of the world to which the image would be applicable, but no one can doubt that it was applicable to this period, and that would be all that would be necessary if the design was to represent a series of kingdoms commencing with that of Nebuchadnezzar.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Daniel 7:2. The four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea — The idea of strife is taken here from the effects that must be produced, were the east, the west, the north, and the south winds to rise tempestuously, and meet on the surface of the sea. By the great sea, the Mediterranean is meant; and is so called to distinguish it from those lakes called seas by the Hebrews; such as the Sea of Galilee, Dead Sea, Sea of Tiberias, c. but even that may refer to Asia, the scene of all these contentions. This dream is the same in meaning, under different emblems, as that of Nebuchadnezzar's metallic image; but in Daniel's dream several circumstances are added. It is supposed that Daniel had this dream about forty-eight years after Nebuchadnezzar had the vision of the great image.