Daniel's Four Beasts
[ranking: 3]
"And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ??Arise, devour much flesh.'" - Daniel 7:1-28
In the Book of Daniel, the titular prophet has a vision of four beasts, which represent four empires. The creatures all emerge from the sea, terrifying and destructive; yet, like the empires of the world, despite their power and violence, they pass from the Earth, and only the kingdom of heaven endures.
The first beast is described as being a lion-eagle hybrid. The next looks like a bear, and was created to "devour much flesh." The third of Daniel's beasts is a leopard-like creature with four wings and four heads. Finally, the fourth beast is the destroyer of the entire world in Daniel's vision. This fearsome creature has 10 horns and teeth made of iron.
Unicorns
[ranking: 13]
"A firstborn bull??he has majesty, and his horns are the horns of a wild ox; with them he shall gore the peoples, all of them, to the ends of the earth; they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.?? - Deuteronomy 33:17
Most people don't think of unicorns as monsters. However, the way they're described in the Bible is terrifying. There's some debate over whether these beasts are actually unicorns; they have a body similar to a bull and a single horn used to gore people.
Not a unicorn by name, but sure sounds like an evil-ass unicorn.
Giants
[ranking: 11]
"And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze." - 1 Samuel 17:1-58
There are giants all over the Bible, the most famous of which is Goliath, who fell to David. The Amorites, a race of giants, are mentioned more than 80 times, including this tasty quote from Amos 2:9?C10:
"Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. Also it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite."
Biblical scholars estimate the height of these monsters at anywhere from six to 30 feet. If the Amorites were really as tall as cedars, it's possible they stood 50 to 100 feet tall. Another example of giants in the bible, from Deuteronomy 2:10?C11:
"The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. They were also regarded as giants [Hebrew rephaim], like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim"
Leviathan
[ranking: 4]
"In that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, With His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted serpent; And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea." - Isaiah 27:1
The Leviathan was a fierce, serpentine sea monster with multiple heads that ran amok in the Old Testament; a sea monster mentioned in Revelations may be a permutation of it. The monster's defeat at the hands of God preceded creation, making it a beast of chaos.
The creature is a prime early example of sea creatures that became increasingly prevalent as mankind took to the high seas, sailing to far away destinations. Centuries later, Sir Humphrey Gilbert would detail seeing a creature in the sea that resembled a lion.
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Cherubim
[ranking: 6]
"He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." - Genesis 3:24
Wait, seriously? Cherubim? As in, cherubs? Those cute, fat babies so often peeing in fountains? As it turns out, cherubim in the Bible are not such cuddly creatures. Rather, they're otherworld beings with four distinct faces that emerge from a swirling nebulous of smoke and fire.
"As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces." Ezekiel 1:5-11
The Second Beast
[ranking: 2]
"Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon." - Revelation 13:11
The Second Beast was said to come out of the Earth after the First Beast emerged from the sea. This creature isn't as well described as other biblical monsters, though had awesome powers: "And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people."
The Second Beast is most notable for being credited with creating the mark of the beast, emblazoning it on people, and directing humanity to follow the First Beast. This mark of the beast is believed to identify followers of the First Beast, who may be the antichrist.
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