STRONGS G2342:
θηρίον,
-ου,
τό, (diminutive of
θήρ; hence,
a little beast, little animal; Plato, Theaet., p. 171 e.; of bees, Theocritus, 19, 6; but in usage it had almost always the force of its primitive; the later diminutive is
θηρίδιον [cf. Epictetus diss. 2, 9, 6]); [from Homer down];
Sept. for
חַיָה and
בְּהֵמָה,
an animal; a wild animal, wild beast, beast: properly,
Mark 1:13;
Acts 10:12 Rec.;
Acts 11:6;
28:4f;
Hebrews 12:20; [
James 3:7];
Revelation 6:8; in
Revelation 11:7 and
Revelation 13-20, under the figurative of a '
beast' is depicted Antichrist, both his person and his kingdom and power, (see
ἀντίχριστος); metaphorically, a brutal, bestial man, savage, ferocious,
Titus 1:12 [colloquial, 'ugly dogs'], (so in Aristophanes eqq. 273; Plutarch, 439; nub. 184; [cf. Schmidt, chapter 70, 2; apparently never with allusion to the stupidity of beasts]; still other examples are given by
Kypke, Observations, ii., p. 379;
θηρία ἀνθρωπόμορφα, Ignatius Smyrn. 4, cf. ad Ephes. 7).
[
Synonym: see
ζῶον.]
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