Daniel 8:1-8

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. ²And 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. ³I 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. ⁴I 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.

⁵As 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. ⁶He 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. ⁷I 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. ⁸Then ^(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.

Read full chapter

Daniel 8:15-22

English Standard Version

The Interpretation of the Vision

¹⁵When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I ^(A)sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having ^(B)the appearance of a man. ¹⁶^(C)And I heard a man's voice ^(D)between the banks of the ^(E)Ulai, and it called, ^(F)“Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” ¹⁷So he came near where I stood. And when he came, ^(G)I was frightened ^(H)and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, ^(I)O son of man, that the vision is for ^(J)the time of the end.”

¹⁸And when he had spoken to me, ^(K)I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But ^(L)he touched me and made me stand up. ¹⁹He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of ^(M)the indignation, for it refers to ^(N)the appointed time of the end. ²⁰As for ^(O)the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of ^(P)Media and Persia. ²¹And ^(Q)the goat^[a] is the king of Greece. And ^(R)the great horn between his eyes is ^(S)the first king. ²²^(T)As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his^[b] nation, ^(U)but not with his power.