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beÌ„st: This word occurs often in both Old and New Testaments and denotes generally a mammal (though sometimes a reptile) in distinction to a man, a bird, or a fish. In this distinction the English is fairly in accord with the Hebrew and Greek originals. The commonest Hebrew words beheÌ„maÌ„h and hÌ£ai have their counterpart in the Arabic as do three others less often used, be‛ı̄r (; ; the King James Version), nephesh (), and tÌ£ebhahÌ£ (). BeheÌ„maÌ„h and Arabic bahı̄mah are from a root signifying vagueness or dumbness and so denote primarily a dumb beast. HÌ£ai and Arabic hÌ£aiwaÌ„n are from the root hÌ£aÌ„yaÌ„h (Arabic hÌ£aya), “to live,†and denote primarily living creatures. Be‛ı̄r, “cattle,†and its root-verb, bā‛ar, “to graze,†are identical with the Arabic ba‛ı̄r and , ba‛ara, but with a curious difference in meaning. Ba‛ı̄r is a common word for camel among the Bedouin and the root-verb, ba‛ara, means “to drop dung,†ba‛rah being a common word for the dung of camels, goats, and sheep. Nephesh corresponds in every way with the Arabic nephs, “breath,†“soul†or “self†TÌ£ebhahÌ£ from tÌ£aÌ„bhahÌ£, “to slaughter,†is equivalent to the Arabic dhibhÌ£ from dhabahÌ£a, with the same meaning. Both θηÏιÌον, theÌ„rion (“wild beastâ€), and ζῷον, zō̇on (“living thingâ€), occur often in the Apocalypse. They are found also in a few other places, as mammals () or figuratively (). TheÌ„rion is used also of the viper which fastened on Paul's hand, and this has parallels in classic al Greek. Beasts of burden and beasts used for food were and are an important form of property, hence, κτῆνος, kteÌ„Ìnos (“possessionâ€), the word used for the good Samaritan's beast () and for the beasts with which Lysias provided Paul for his journey to Caesarea ().
For “swift beast,†kirkārōth, “dromedary†( the King James Version), see CAMEL. For “swift beast,†rekhesh, see HORSE ( the King James Version; the King James Version, margin; compare , ). See also WILD BEAST.