Concise Bible Dictionary:
Besides the ordinary use of this word—such as distinguishing all animals from man, (Ex. 9:10; Psa. 36:6); and as specifying quadrupeds from fowls and creeping things, (Gen. 8:19)— the word is used symbolically for the ignorance of man (Psa. 73:22); and for his acting as an irrational creature, that is, without conscience before God. The word is beir, translated “brutish” in (Psa. 94:8; Jer. 10:8,14,21; Jer. 51:17). Great worldly powers, cheyva, θηρίον, having different characters according to the symbolic creature specified, but signifying in each case the absence of all moral connection with God: used by Daniel for the four great kingdoms, (Dan. 7:3-23); and in Revelation 13:1 to Revelation 20:10 for the revived Roman empire and for the Antichrist, God’s executive powers in creation and providence, ζῶον, unhappily translated “beasts” in the A.V. in Revelation 4:6-9, where it should be “living creatures,” as in Ezekiel. See LIVING CREATURES.