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Daniel 8:1-14
Legacy Standard Bible

The Vision of the Ram and Goat

8 In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me, [a]Daniel, after the one which appeared to me [b]previously. 2 And I (A)looked in the vision. And it happened that while I was looking, I was in the citadel of (B)Susa, which is in the province of (C)Elam; and I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai [c]Canal. 3 Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a (D)ram which had two horns was standing in front of the [d]canal. Now the two horns were [e]long, but one was [f]longer than the other, with the [g]longer one coming up last. 4 I saw the ram (E)butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before it, nor was there anyone to deliver from its [h]power, but (F)it did as it pleased and magnified itself.

5 And while I was considering, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the [i]goat had a (G)conspicuous horn between its eyes. 6 Then it came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the [j]canal, and ran at it in his strong wrath. 7 And I saw it reach the side of the ram, and it was enraged at it; and it struck the ram and broke its two horns in pieces, and the ram had no strength to stand in [k]opposition to it. So it threw it down to the ground and trampled on it, and there was none to deliver the ram from its [l]power. 8 Then the male goat magnified itself exceedingly. But as soon as (H)it was mighty, the (I)large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the (J)four winds of [m]heaven.

The Small Horn

9 And out of one of them came forth a rather (K)small horn. And it grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the [n](L)Beautiful Land. 10 Then it grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the (M)stars to fall to the earth, and it (N)trampled them down. 11 And it even (O)magnified itself [o]to be equal with the [p]Commander of the host; and it removed the (P)regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. 12 And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will (Q)throw truth down to the ground and do its will and succeed. 13 Then I heard a (R)holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, “(S)How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, [q]while the transgression causes desolation, so as to allow both the holy place and the host [r]to be (T)trampled?” 14 He said to me, “For (U)2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be [s]made righteous.”

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Footnotes

  1. Daniel 8:1 Lit I, Daniel
  2. Daniel 8:1 Lit at the beginning
  3. Daniel 8:2 Or River
  4. Daniel 8:3 Or river
  5. Daniel 8:3 Lit high(er)
  6. Daniel 8:3 Lit high(er)
  7. Daniel 8:3 Lit high(er)
  8. Daniel 8:4 Lit hand
  9. Daniel 8:5 Lit buck
  10. Daniel 8:6 Or river
  11. Daniel 8:7 Lit before
  12. Daniel 8:7 Lit hand
  13. Daniel 8:8 Or the sky
  14. Daniel 8:9 Israel
  15. Daniel 8:11 Lit up to the
  16. Daniel 8:11 Or Prince
  17. Daniel 8:13 Or possibly and the transgression that horrifies
  18. Daniel 8:13 Lit as a trampling
  19. Daniel 8:14 Or properly restored
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Daniel 8:1-14
New English Translation

Daniel Has a Vision of a Goat and a Ram

8 [a] In the third year[b] of King Belshazzar’s reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me previously.[c] 2 In this[d] vision I saw myself in Susa[e] the citadel,[f] which is located in the province of Elam. In the vision I saw myself at the Ulai Canal.[g] 3 I looked up[h] and saw[i] a[j] ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long,[k] but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one. 4 I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal[l] was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power.[m] It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly.[n]

5 While I was contemplating all this,[o] a male goat[p] was coming from the west over the surface of all the land[q] without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn[r] between its eyes. 6 It came to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed against it with raging strength.[s] 7 I saw it approaching the ram. It went into a fit of rage against the ram[t] and struck it[u] and broke off its two horns. The ram had no ability to resist it.[v] The goat hurled the ram[w] to the ground and trampled it. No one could deliver the ram from its power.[x] 8 The male goat acted even more arrogantly. But no sooner had the large horn become strong than it was broken, and there arose four conspicuous horns[y] in its place,[z] extending toward the four winds of the sky.[aa]

9 From one of them came a small horn,[ab] but it grew to be very great toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land.[ac] 10 It grew so great it reached the army[ad] of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars[ae] to the ground, where it trampled them. 11 It also acted arrogantly against the Prince of the army,[af] from whom[ag] the daily sacrifice was removed and whose sanctuary[ah] was thrown down. 12 The army was given over,[ai] along with the daily sacrifice, in the course of his sinful rebellion.[aj] It hurled[ak] truth[al] to the ground and enjoyed success.[am]

13 Then I heard a holy one[an] speaking. Another holy one said to the one who was speaking, “To what period of time does the vision pertain—this vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the destructive act of rebellion and the giving over of both the sanctuary and army to be trampled?” 14 He said to me, “To 2,300 evenings and mornings;[ao] then the sanctuary will be put right again.”[ap]

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Footnotes

  1. Daniel 8:1 sn Dan 8:1 marks the switch from Aramaic (= 2:4b-7:28) back to Hebrew as the language in which the book is written in its present form. The remainder of the book from this point on (8:1-12:13) is in Hebrew. The bilingual nature of the book has been variously explained, but it most likely has to do with the book’s transmission history; see the note at 2:4.
  2. Daniel 8:1 sn The third year of King Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 551 b.c. Daniel would have been approximately 69 years old at the time of this vision.
  3. Daniel 8:1 tn Heb “in the beginning.” This refers to the vision described in chapter seven.
  4. Daniel 8:2 tn Heb “the.”
  5. Daniel 8:2 sn Susa (Heb. שׁוּשַׁן, shushan), located some 230 miles (380 km) east of Babylon, was a winter residence for Persian kings during the Achaemenid period. The language of v. 2 seems to suggest that Daniel may not have been physically present at Susa, but only saw himself there in the vision. However, the Hebrew is difficult, and some have concluded that the first four words of v. 2 in the MT are a later addition (cf. Theodotion).
  6. Daniel 8:2 tn The Hebrew word בִּירָה (birah, “castle, palace”) usually refers to a fortified structure within a city, but here it is in apposition to the city name Susa and therefore has a broader reference to the entire city (against this view, however, see BDB 108 s.v. 2). Cf. NAB “the fortress of Susa”; TEV “the walled city of Susa.”
  7. Daniel 8:2 tn The term אוּבַל (ʾuval = “stream, river”) is a relatively rare word in biblical Hebrew, found only here and in vv. 3 and 6. The Ulai was apparently a sizable artificial canal in Susa (cf. NASB, NIV, NCV) and not a river in the ordinary sense of that word.
  8. Daniel 8:3 tn Heb “lifted my eyes.”
  9. Daniel 8:3 tn Heb “saw and behold.”
  10. Daniel 8:3 tn Heb “one.” The Hebrew numerical adjective occasionally functions like an English indefinite article. See GKC 401 §125.b.
  11. Daniel 8:3 tn Heb “high” (also “higher” later in this verse).
  12. Daniel 8:4 tn Or “beast” (NAB).
  13. Daniel 8:4 tn Heb “hand,” as also in v. 7.
  14. Daniel 8:4 tn In the Hiphil the Hebrew verb גָּדַל (gadal, “to make great; to magnify”) can have either a positive or a negative sense. For the former, used especially of God, see Ps 126:2, 3 and Joel 2:21. In this chapter (8:4, 8, 11, 25) the word has a pejorative sense, describing the self-glorification of this king. The sense seems to be that of vainly assuming one’s own superiority through deliberate hubris.
  15. Daniel 8:5 tn The words “all this” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
  16. Daniel 8:5 tn Heb “and behold, a he-goat of the goats.”
  17. Daniel 8:5 tn Or “of the whole earth” (NAB, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
  18. Daniel 8:5 tn Heb “a horn of vision” [or “conspicuousness”], i.e., “a conspicuous horn,” one easily seen.
  19. Daniel 8:6 tn Heb “the wrath of its strength.”
  20. Daniel 8:7 tn Heb “him.”
  21. Daniel 8:7 tn Heb “the ram.”
  22. Daniel 8:7 tn Heb “stand before him.”
  23. Daniel 8:7 tn Heb “he hurled him.” The referents of both pronouns (the male goat and the ram) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
  24. Daniel 8:7 sn The goat of Daniel’s vision represents Greece; the large horn represents Alexander the Great. The ram stands for Media-Persia. Alexander’s rapid conquest of the Persians involved three battles of major significance that he won against overwhelming odds: Granicus (334 b.c.), Isus (333 b.c.), and Gaugemela (331 b.c.).
  25. Daniel 8:8 tn The word “horns” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.
  26. Daniel 8:8 sn The four conspicuous horns refer to Alexander’s successors. After his death, Alexander’s empire was divided up among four of his generals: Cassander, who took Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus, who took Thrace and parts of Asia Minor; Seleucus, who took Syria and territory to its east; and Ptolemy, who took control of Egypt.
  27. Daniel 8:8 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
  28. Daniel 8:9 sn This small horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who controlled the Seleucid kingdom from ca. 175-164 b.c. Antiochus was extremely hostile toward the Jews and persecuted them mercilessly.
  29. Daniel 8:9 sn The expression the beautiful land (Heb. הַצֶּבִי [hatsevi] = “the beauty”) is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel. Cf. 11:16, 41, where it is preceded by the word אֶרֶץ (ʾerets, “land”).
  30. Daniel 8:10 tn Traditionally, “host.” The term refers to God’s heavenly angelic assembly, which he sometimes leads into battle as an army.
  31. Daniel 8:10 sn In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Isa 40:26. In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13).
  32. Daniel 8:11 sn The prince of the army may refer to God (cf. “whose sanctuary” later in the verse) or to the angel Michael (cf. 12:1).
  33. Daniel 8:11 tn Or perhaps “and by him,” referring to Antiochus rather than to God.
  34. Daniel 8:11 sn Here the sanctuary is a reference to the temple of God in Jerusalem.
  35. Daniel 8:12 tc The present translation reads וּצְבָאָהּ נִתַּן (utsevaʾah nittan, “and its army was given”) for the MT וְצָבָא תִּנָּתֵן (vetsavaʾ tinnaten, “and an army was being given/will be given”). The context suggests a perfect rather than an imperfect verb.
  36. Daniel 8:12 tn Heb “in (the course of) rebellion.” The meaning of the phrase is difficult to determine. It could mean “due to rebellion,” referring to the failures of the Jews, but this is not likely since it is not a point made elsewhere in the book. The phrase more probably refers to the rebellion against God and the atrocities against the Jews epitomized by Antiochus.
  37. Daniel 8:12 tc Two medieval Hebrew mss and the LXX have a passive verb here: “truth was hurled to the ground” (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV).
  38. Daniel 8:12 sn Truth here probably refers to the Torah. According to 1 Macc 1:56, Antiochus initiated destruction of the sacred books of the Jews.
  39. Daniel 8:12 tn Heb “it acted and prospered.”
  40. Daniel 8:13 sn The holy one referred to here is presumably an angel (cf. 4:13 [10AT], 23 [20AT]).
  41. Daniel 8:14 sn The language of evenings and mornings is reminiscent of the creation account in Genesis 1. Since “evening and morning” is the equivalent of a day, the reference here would be to 2,300 days. However, some interpreters understand the reference to be to the evening sacrifice and the morning sacrifice, in which case the reference would be to only 1,150 days. Either way, the event that marked the commencement of this period is unclear. The event that marked the conclusion of the period was the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem following the atrocious and sacrilegious acts that Antiochus implemented. This took place on December 25, 165 b.c. The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah each year commemorates this victory.
  42. Daniel 8:14 tn Heb “will be vindicated” or “will be justified.” This is the only occurrence of this verb in the Niphal in the OT. English versions interpret it as “cleansed” (KJV, ASV), “restored” (NASB, TEV, NLT), or “reconsecrated” (NIV).
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