Daniel 8
The Message
A Vision of a Ram and a Billy Goat
8 “In King Belshazzar’s third year as king, another vision came to me, Daniel. This was now the second vision.
2-4 “In the vision, I saw myself in Susa, the capital city of the province Elam, standing at the Ulai Canal. Looking around, I was surprised to see a ram also standing at the gate. The ram had two huge horns, one bigger than the other, but the bigger horn was the last to appear. I watched as the ram charged: first west, then north, then south. No beast could stand up to him. He did just as he pleased, strutting as if he were king of the beasts.
5-7 “While I was watching this, wondering what it all meant, I saw a billy goat with an immense horn in the middle of its forehead come up out of the west and fly across the whole country, not once touching the ground. The billy goat approached the double-horned ram that I had earlier seen standing at the gate and, enraged, charged it viciously. I watched as, mad with rage, it charged the ram and hit it so hard that it broke off its two horns. The ram didn’t stand a chance against it. The billy goat knocked the ram to the ground and stomped all over it. Nothing could have saved the ram from the goat.
8-12 “Then the billy goat swelled to an enormous size. At the height of its power its immense horn broke off and four other big horns sprouted in its place, pointing to the four points of the compass. And then from one of these big horns another horn sprouted. It started small, but then grew to an enormous size, facing south and east—toward lovely Palestine. The horn grew tall, reaching to the stars, the heavenly army, and threw some of the stars to the earth and stomped on them. It even dared to challenge the power of God, Prince of the Celestial Army! And then it threw out daily worship and desecrated the Sanctuary. As judgment against their sin, the holy people of God got the same treatment as the daily worship. The horn cast God’s Truth aside. High-handed, it took over everything and everyone.
13 “Then I overheard two holy angels talking. One asked, ‘How long is what we see here going to last—the abolishing of daily worship, this devastating judgment against sin, the kicking around of God’s holy people and the Sanctuary?’
14 “The other answered, ‘Over the course of 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning. Then the Sanctuary will be set right again.’
* * *
15 “While I, Daniel, was trying to make sense of what I was seeing, suddenly there was a humanlike figure standing before me.
16-17 “Then I heard a man’s voice from over by the Ulai Canal calling out, ‘Gabriel, tell this man what is going on. Explain the vision to him.’ He came up to me, but when he got close I became terrified and fell facedown on the ground.
17-18 “He said, ‘Understand that this vision has to do with the time of the end.’ As soon as he spoke, I fainted, my face in the dirt. But he picked me up and put me on my feet.
19 “And then he continued, ‘I want to tell you what is going to happen as the judgment days of wrath wind down, for there is going to be an end to all this.
20-22 “‘The double-horned ram you saw stands for the two kings of the Medes and Persians. The billy goat stands for the kingdom of the Greeks. The huge horn on its forehead is the first Greek king. The four horns that sprouted after it was broken off are the four kings that come after him, but without his power.
23-26 “‘As their kingdoms cool down
and rebellions heat up,
A king will show up,
hard-faced, a master trickster.
His power will swell enormously.
He’ll talk big, high-handedly,
Doing whatever he pleases,
knocking off heroes and holy ones left and right.
He’ll plot and scheme to make crime flourish—
and oh, how it will flourish!
He’ll think he’s invincible
and get rid of anyone who gets in his way.
But when he takes on the Prince of all princes,
he’ll be smashed to bits—
but not by human hands.
This vision of the 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning,
is accurate but confidential.
Keep it to yourself.
It refers to the far future.’
* * *
27 “I, Daniel, walked around in a daze, unwell for days. Then I got a grip on myself and went back to work taking care of the king’s affairs. But I continued to be upset by the vision. I couldn’t make sense of it.”
Daniel 8
English Standard Version
Daniel's Vision of the Ram and the Goat
8 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[a] of (AG)the stars it threw down to the ground and (AH)trampled on them. 11 (AI)It became great, even as great as (AJ)the Prince of the host. (AK)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,[b] and it will throw truth to the ground, and (AL)it will act and prosper. 13 Then I heard (AM)a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, (AN)“For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, (AO)the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” 14 And he said to me,[c] “For 2,300 (AP)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 (AQ)sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having (AR)the appearance of a man. 16 (AS)And I heard a man's voice (AT)between the banks of the (AU)Ulai, and it called, (AV)“Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” 17 So he came near where I stood. And when he came, (AW)I was frightened (AX)and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, (AY)O son of man, that the vision is for (AZ)the time of the end.”
18 And when he had spoken to me, (BA)I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But (BB)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 (BC)the indignation, for it refers to (BD)the appointed time of the end. 20 As for (BE)the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of (BF)Media and Persia. 21 And (BG)the goat[d] is the king of Greece. And (BH)the great horn between his eyes is (BI)the first king. 22 (BJ)As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his[e] nation, (BK)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—(BL)but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction (BM)and shall succeed in what he does, (BN)and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. 25 (BO)By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind (BP)he shall become great. (BQ)Without warning he shall destroy many. And he (BR)shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but (BS)by no human hand. 26 The vision of (BT)the evenings and the mornings that has been told (BU)is true, but (BV)seal up the vision, (BW)for it refers to many days from now.”
27 And (BX)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 (BY)and did not understand it.
Footnotes
- Daniel 8:10 Or host, that is, some
- Daniel 8:12 Or in an act of rebellion
- Daniel 8:14 Hebrew; Septuagint, Theodotion, Vulgate to him
- Daniel 8:21 Or the shaggy goat
- Daniel 8:22 Theodotion, Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew a
Daniel 8
New Living Translation
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. 2 In this vision I was at the fortress of Susa, in the province of Elam, standing beside the Ulai River.[b]
3 As I looked up, I saw a ram with two long horns standing beside the river.[c] One of the horns was longer than the other, even though it had grown later than the other one. 4 The ram butted everything out of his way to the west, to the north, and to the south, and no one could stand against him or help his victims. He did as he pleased and became very great.
5 While I was watching, suddenly a male goat appeared from the west, crossing the land so swiftly that he didn’t even touch the ground. This goat, which had one very large horn between its eyes, 6 headed toward the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the river, rushing at him in a rage. 7 The goat charged furiously at the ram and struck him, breaking off both his horns. Now the ram was helpless, and the goat knocked him down and trampled him. No one could rescue the ram from the goat’s power.
8 The goat became very powerful. But at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off. In the large horn’s place grew four prominent horns pointing in the four directions of the earth. 9 Then from one of the prominent horns came a small horn whose power grew very great. It extended toward the south and the east and toward the glorious land of Israel. 10 Its power reached to the heavens, where it attacked the heavenly army, throwing some of the heavenly beings and some of the stars to the ground and trampling them. 11 It even challenged the Commander of heaven’s army by canceling the daily sacrifices offered to him and by destroying his Temple. 12 The army of heaven was restrained from responding to this rebellion. So the daily sacrifice was halted, and truth was overthrown. The horn succeeded in everything it did.[d]
13 Then I heard two holy ones talking to each other. One of them asked, “How long will the events of this vision last? How long will the rebellion that causes desecration stop the daily sacrifices? How long will the Temple and heaven’s army be trampled on?”
14 The other replied, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the Temple will be made right again.”
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. 16 And I heard a human voice calling out from the Ulai River, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of his vision.”
17 As Gabriel approached the place where I was standing, I became so terrified that I fell with my face to the ground. “Son of man,” he said, “you must understand that the events you have seen in your vision relate to the time of the end.”
18 While he was speaking, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. But Gabriel roused me with a touch and helped me to my feet.
19 Then he said, “I am here to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath. What you have seen pertains to the very end of time. 20 The two-horned ram represents the kings of Media and Persia. 21 The shaggy male goat represents the king of Greece,[e] and the large horn between his eyes represents the first king of the Greek Empire. 22 The four prominent horns that replaced the one large horn show that the Greek Empire will break into four kingdoms, but none as great as the first.
23 “At the end of their rule, when their sin is at its height, a fierce king, a master of intrigue, will rise to power. 24 He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause a shocking amount of destruction and succeed in everything he does. He will destroy powerful leaders and devastate the holy people. 25 He will be a master of deception and will become arrogant; he will destroy many without warning. He will even take on the Prince of princes in battle, but he will be broken, though not by human power.
26 “This vision about the 2,300 evenings and mornings[f] is true. But none of these things will happen for a long time, so keep this vision a secret.”
27 Then I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for several days. Afterward I got up and performed my duties for the king, but I was greatly troubled by the vision and could not understand it.
Footnotes
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
