Vision of a Ram and a Goat

8 In^[a] the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me—to me, Daniel—after the one that appeared to me ^(A)the first time. ² I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in ^(B)Shushan,^[b] the ^[c]citadel, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai. ³ Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was ^(C)higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. ⁴ I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could ^[d]withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, ^(D)but he did according to his will and became great.

⁵ And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable ^(E)horn between his eyes. ⁶ Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. ⁷ And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, ^[e]attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.

⁸ Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it ^(F)four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. ^9 (G)And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, ^(H)toward the east, and toward the ^(I)Glorious Land. ^10 (J)And it grew up to ^(K)the host of heaven; and ^(L)it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. ^11 (M)He even exalted himself as high as ^(N)the Prince of the host; ^(O)and by him ^(P)the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of ^[f]His sanctuary was cast down. ¹² Because of transgression, ^(Q)an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast ^(R)truth down to the ground. He ^(S)did all this and prospered.

¹³ Then I heard ^(T)a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression ^[g]of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?”

¹⁴ And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred ^[h]days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.”

¹⁹ Then Tamar put ^(A)ashes on her head, and tore her robe of many colors that was on her, and ^(B)laid her hand on her head and went away crying bitterly.

^12 (A)Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³ And do not present your ^(B)members as ^[a]instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but ^(C)present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For ^(D)sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin ^(E)because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! ¹⁶ Do you not know that ^(F)to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? ¹⁷ But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart ^(G)that form of doctrine to which you were ^[b]delivered. ¹⁸ And ^(H)having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness ^[c]for holiness.

²⁰ For when you were ^(I)slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ^21 (J)What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For ^(K)the end of those things is death. ²² But now ^(L)having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit ^[d]to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. ²³ For ^(M)the wages of sin is death, but ^(N)the ^[e]gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.