8 ¶ In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, Daniel, after that vision which had appeared unto me before.

² And I saw in the vision; (and it came to pass, when I saw it, that I was at Shushan, which is the head of the kingdom in the province of Persia); so that I saw in that vision, being by the river of Ulai,

³ and I lifted up my eyes and saw, and, behold, a ram was standing before the river, which had two horns; and even though they were high, the one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.

⁴ I saw that the ram smote with the horns to the west, to the north, and to the south and that no beast could stand before him, nor could anyone escape from his hand; but he did according to his will and made himself great.

⁵ And as I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west upon the face of the whole earth and did not touch the earth: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

⁶ And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing before the river and ran against him in the fury of his power.

⁷ And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he rose up against him and smote him, and broke his two horns: because the ram did not have the strength to stand before him; therefore he cast him down to the ground and trod him under; and there was no one to deliver the ram out of his hand.

⁸ And the he goat made himself very great, and when he was at his greatest strength, that great horn was broken; and in its place came up another four marvellous ones toward the four winds of heaven.

⁹ And out of the first of them came forth a little horn, which grew much toward the south and toward the east and toward the desirable land.

¹⁰ And it magnified itself unto the host of heaven, and it cast down part of the host and of the stars to the ground and trod them under.

¹¹ Even against the prince of the host did he magnify himself, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast to the earth.

¹² And the host was given over by reason of the prevarication upon the daily sacrifice; and he cast the truth to the ground; and he did whatever he would and prospered.

¹³ Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto the one which spoke, How long shall the vision of the daily sacrifice last and the prevarication of desolation that places both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

¹⁴ And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days of evening and morning; then shall the sanctuary be justified.

¹⁵ ¶ And it came to pass, as I, Daniel, was considering the vision and seeking to understand it, behold, there stood before me the likeness of a man.

¹⁶ And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, which called and said, Gabriel, teach this man the vision.

¹⁷ So he came near where I stood, and with his coming, I was afraid and fell upon my face; and he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time appointed by God the vision shall be fulfilled.

¹⁸ Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep on the ground upon my face; and he touched me and changed my state.

¹⁹ And he said, Behold, I will show thee that which is to come in the last end of the wrath; for at the time appointed this shall be fulfilled.

²⁰ The ram which thou didst see having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

²¹ And the he goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that he had between his eyes is the first king.

²² Now that being broken, whereas four stood up in its place, means that four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his strength.

²³ And at the end of their empire, when the prevaricators are come to the full, a king of arrogant countenance and expert in enigmas shall raise himself up.

²⁴ And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy marvellously and shall prosper and do according to his will and shall destroy the mighty and the people of the saints.

²⁵ And with his understanding he shall cause the deceit in his hand to prosper, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace he shall destroy many; he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes, and without hand he shall be broken.

²⁶ And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true; therefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.

²⁷ And I Daniel was broken and was sick certain days; and after I rose up, I did the king’s business; but I was astonished at the vision, and there was no one who could understand it.