What does the semicolon in Daniel 7 verse 7 mean?
The semicolon in Daniel 7:7 represents a gap of two thousand years in human history as we reckon time, separating the description of the fourth beast from its ten horns. In God's reckoning, that same interval is no longer than a semicolon.
Les explains that Daniel saw the same unfolding of human history in the Gentile empires in animal form as Nebuchadnezzar dreamed in the metals—lion, bear, leopard, and a beast that could not be explained, the Roman Empire. He left off in verse 7, where the fourth beast is described as diverse or different from all the beasts before it. Then comes the semicolon, and the verse ends, 'and it had ten horns.' Les teaches that this semicolon is two thousand years of time as we reckon it, but in God's way of reckoning it has been no longer than a semicolon.
After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.