³⁹ “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.^(A)

³² The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,

²⁹ Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck,^(C) and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.^(D)

³⁰ That very night Belshazzar,^(E) king^(F) of the Babylonians,^[b] was slain,^{(G) 31} and Darius^(H) the Mede^(I) took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.^[c]

²⁰ So he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece^(A) will come;

²⁰ The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia.^(A)

³ I looked up,^(A) and there before me was a ram^(B) with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. ⁴ I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power.^(C) It did as it pleased^(D) and became great.

⁵ As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. ⁶ It came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at it in great rage. ⁷ I saw it attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering its two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against it; the goat knocked it to the ground and trampled on it,^(E) and none could rescue the ram from its power.^{(F) 8} The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off,^(G) and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.^(H)

⁹ Out of one of them came another horn, which started small^(I) but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land.^{(J) 10} It grew until it reached^(K) the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth^(L) and trampled^(M) on them. ¹¹ It set itself up to be as great as the commander^(N) of the army of the Lord;^(O) it took away the daily sacrifice^(P) from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down.^{(Q) 12} Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people^[a] and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.^(R)

¹³ Then I heard a holy one^(S) speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled^(T)—the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, the surrender of the sanctuary and the trampling underfoot^(U) of the Lord’s people?”

¹⁴ He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.”^(V)

⁶ The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west,^[a] and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

³ the third white,^(A) and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful.