Daniel 8

Legacy Standard Bible

The Vision of the Ram and Goat

8 In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me, ^[a]Daniel, after the one which appeared to me ^[b]previously. ² And I ^(A)looked in the vision. And it happened that while I was looking, I was in the citadel of ^(B)Susa, which is in the province of ^(C)Elam; and I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai ^[c]Canal. ³ Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ^(D)ram which had two horns was standing in front of the ^[d]canal. Now the two horns were ^[e]long, but one was ^[f]longer than the other, with the ^[g]longer one coming up last. ⁴ I saw the ram ^(E)butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before it, nor was there anyone to deliver from its ^[h]power, but ^(F)it did as it pleased and magnified itself.

⁵ And while I was considering, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the ^[i]goat had a ^(G)conspicuous horn between its eyes. ⁶ Then it came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the ^[j]canal, and ran at it in his strong wrath. ⁷ And I saw it reach the side of the ram, and it was enraged at it; and it struck the ram and broke its two horns in pieces, and the ram had no strength to stand in ^[k]opposition to it. So it threw it down to the ground and trampled on it, and there was none to deliver the ram from its ^[l]power. ⁸ Then the male goat magnified itself exceedingly. But as soon as ^(H)it was mighty, the ^(I)large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the ^(J)four winds of ^[m]heaven.

The Small Horn

⁹ And out of one of them came forth a rather ^(K)small horn. And it grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the ^[n](L)Beautiful Land. ¹⁰ Then it grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the ^(M)stars to fall to the earth, and it ^(N)trampled them down. ¹¹ And it even ^(O)magnified itself ^[o]to be equal with the ^[p]Commander of the host; and it removed the ^(P)regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. ¹² And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will ^(Q)throw truth down to the ground and do its will and succeed. ¹³ Then I heard a ^(R)holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, “^(S)How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, ^[q]while the transgression causes desolation, so as to allow both the holy place and the host ^[r]to be ^(T)trampled?” ¹⁴ He said to me, “For ^(U)2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be ^[s]made righteous.”

Daniel Seeks to Understand the Vision

¹⁵ Now it happened when ^(V)I, Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought ^[t]to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one ^[u]who had the appearance of a ^(W)man. ¹⁶ And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, “^(X)Gabriel, give this man an understanding of what has appeared.” ¹⁷ So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was terrified and ^(Y)fell on my face; but he said to me, “Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the ^(Z)time of the end.”

¹⁸ Now while he was talking with me, I ^(AA)sank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he ^(AB)touched me and made me stand ^[v]upright. ¹⁹ Then he said, “Behold, I am going to ^(AC)let you know what will happen at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end. ²⁰ The ^(AD)ram which you saw with the two horns is the kings of Media and Persia. ²¹ Now the shaggy ^[w]goat is the ^[x]king of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king. ²² And the ^(AE)broken horn and the four horns that stood in its place are four kingdoms which will take their stand from his nation, although not with his power.

²⁷ Then I, Daniel, was ^[ai](AL)exhausted and sick for days. Then I rose up again and ^(AM)did the king’s work; but I was appalled at what had appeared, and there was none to make me understand it.