Beast

Beast in the Bible covers multiple categories of animal. As a broad term it includes domestic cattle and herds (Exodus 22:5; Numbers 20:4), wild animals (Leviticus 26:22; Daniel 4:12), and the full range of living creatures. In apocalyptic literature the term takes on symbolic weight: Daniel's four beasts from the sea represent successive world empires (Daniel 7); Revelation's beast from the sea (chapter 13) and beast from the earth (the false prophet) are agents of anti-Christian power in the end times. The number of the beast (666; Revelation 13:18) has generated extensive interpretive discussion across church history.