Daniel 8
Daniel’s Vision of the Ram and the Goat
1 In the third year of the reign of a King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, b after that which appeared to me c at the first. 2 And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in d Susa the citadel, which is in the province of e Elam. And f I saw in the vision, g and I was at the h Ulai canal. 3 I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, i a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. 4 I saw j the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No k beast l could stand before him, m and there was no one who could rescue from his power. n He did as he pleased and o became great. 5 As I was considering, behold, a p male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had q a conspicuous horn between his eyes. 6 He came to r the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, s and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. 7 I saw him come close to the ram, t and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. u And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he v cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. 8 Then w the goat x became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four y conspicuous horns toward z the four winds of heaven. 9 Out of one of them came aa a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward ab the south, toward the east, and toward ac the glorious land. 10 ad It grew great ae even to the host of heaven. And some of the host af and some ▼
▼
Or host, that is, some
of ah the stars it threw down to the ground and ai trampled on them. 11 aj It became great, even as great as ak the Prince of the host. al And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. 12 And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression,
▼
▼
Or in an act of rebellion
and it will throw truth to the ground, and an it will act and prosper. 13 Then I heard ao a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, ap “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, aq the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” 14 And he said to me,
▼
▼
Hebrew; Septuagint, Theodotion, Vulgate to him
“For 2,300 as evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.” The Interpretation of the Vision
15 When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I at sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having au the appearance of a man. 16 av And I heard a man’s voice aw between the banks of the ax Ulai, and it called ay “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” 17 So he came near where I stood. And when he came, az I was frightened ba and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, bb O son of man, that the vision is for bc the time of the end.” 18 And when he had spoken to me, bd I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But be he touched me and made me stand up. 19 He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of bf the indignation, for it refers to bg the appointed time of the end. 20 As for bh the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of bi Media and Persia. 21 And bj the goat ▼
▼
Or the shaggy goat
is the king of Greece. And bl the great horn between his eyes is bm the first king. 22 bn As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his
▼
▼
Theodotion, Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew the
nation bp but not with his power. 23 And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. 24 His power shall be great— bq but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction br and shall succeed in what he does, bs and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. 25 bt By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind bu he shall become great. bv Without warning he shall destroy many. And he bw shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but bx by no human hand. 26 The vision of by the evenings and the mornings that has been told bz is true, but ca seal up the vision, cb for it refers to many days from now.” 27 And cc I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision cd and did not understand it.
Copyright information for
ESV