Daniel’s Vision of a Ram and Goat

8 ^[a]During the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, saw another vision, following the one that had already appeared to me.

Daniel’s Vision of Four Beasts

7 Earlier, during the first year of King Belshazzar’s reign in Babylon,^[a] Daniel had a dream and saw visions as he lay in his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is what he saw.

⁴ But at the height of his power, his kingdom will be broken apart and divided into four parts. It will not be ruled by the king’s descendants, nor will the kingdom hold the authority it once had. For his empire will be uprooted and given to others.

⁷ Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide.

² When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks.

² During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the Lord, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.^[a]

Gabriel Explains the Vision

¹⁵ As I, Daniel, was trying to understand the meaning of this vision, someone who looked like a man stood in front of me.

²⁸ That was the end of the vision. I, Daniel, was terrified by my thoughts and my face was pale with fear, but I kept these things to myself.

The Vision Is Explained

¹⁵ I, Daniel, was troubled by all I had seen, and my visions terrified me.