UST by section DAN 8:1

⌂ ← DAN 8:1–8:27 → ║ ═ ©

Daniel 8

8 During the third year that King Belshazzar ruled Babylon, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that I had earlier. 2 In that vision, I saw that I was in Susa, the capital city of the province of Elam. I saw that I was standing alongside the Ulai Canal. 3 I looked up and saw a ram standing alongside the canal. It had two long horns. One of the horns was longer than the other. The ram had grown the longer horn after the shorter one. 4 I saw the ram butting away the animals that were around it in all directions. No other animal could resist it, and none could rescue other animals from it. The ram did whatever it wanted to do, and it became very powerful.

5 I kept looking, and the next thing I saw was a goat coming from the west. It ran across the whole world so quickly that its feed seemed not to touch the ground. This goat had one very large horn in the middle of its forehead. 6 It came to the ram that I had seen standing alongside the canal, the ram that had two horns. It was very angry, and it ran straight at the ram. 7 I saw that when the goat got to the ram, it struck it furiously. That broke off the ram’s two horns, and so the ram was not able to defend itself. The goat knocked the ram down and trampled on it. No one could rescue the ram from the goat. 8 The goat became very powerful. But when its power was very great, its large horn broke off. Four other large horns grew in its place. They pointed to the north, south, east, and west.

9 A little horn grew from one of those horns. It became very large. It pointed toward the south and then toward the east and then toward the beautiful land of Israel. 10 That horn became so strong that it even attacked the angels in heaven. It threw some of the angels and some of the stars from the sky onto the earth, and it trampled on them. 11 The horn wanted people to worship it instead of Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly army. It prevented his priests from offering the regular sacrifices to him each morning and evening. It also ruined his temple. 12 Many Israelites disobeyed Yahweh and instead obeyed the horn, who had stopped the priests from offering sacrifices to Yahweh each morning and evening. The horn prevented people from worshiping Yahweh truly. It succeeded in doing what it wanted to do.

13 Then I heard an angel saying something. Another angel asked the one who was talking, “This vision shows that someone will prevent the priests from sacrificing to Yahweh. It shows that many of the Israelites will disobey Yahweh and that this will allow someone to ruin his temple and harm his people. How long will these things continue?”

14 The other angel replied, “They will continue for a total of 2,300 evenings and mornings, or 1,150 days. After that, the temple will become a holy place again.”

15 After I, Daniel, had seen this vision, I was trying to understand what it meant. Suddenly someone in the form of a human being appeared in front of me. 16 Then I heard someone calling out from the middle of the Ulai Canal. His voice sounded human. He said, “Gabriel, explain to him what his vision means.”

17 So Gabriel came and stood next to me. This made me so afraid that I fell onto the ground. But he told me, “You mortal, understand that your vision shows something that will happen when the world is about to end.”

18 As he was speaking to me, I fainted. I was unconscious on the ground, but Gabriel took hold of me and picked me up so I was standing again.

19 Then he said, “I have come to tell you what will happen as God finishes punishing people. He has determined to do that at the end of the world, and your vision shows this. 20 You saw a ram that had two horns. Those horns represent the kingdoms of Media and Persia. 21 The goat that you saw represents the kingdom of Javan. The large horn in the middle of its forehead represents its first king. 22 The four horns that grew after the first horn broke off represent four kingdoms into which his kingdom will divide. None of them will be as strong as the original kingdom was.

23 The people in those kingdoms will become very wicked. Near the time when those kingdoms will end, one of them will have a king who defeats his enemies in battle. That king will also be very deceitful. 24 That king will become very powerful, but only because God allows that to happen. He will violently destroy many things, and he will succeed in doing what he wants to do. He will destroy powerful opponents, and he will also destroy some of God’s people. 25 Because he will be so treacherous, he will achieve what he wants by deceiving people. He will be very proud of himself. He will make people think that they are safe, but he will then destroy many of them. He will even try to oppose God, who rules over all earthly kings. But God, not a human being, will destroy him.

26 Your vision showed how this king will prevent Yahweh’s priests from sacrificing to him each morning and evening. That will happen. But for now, do not tell others what you saw, because those things will not happen until many years from now.”

27 Then I, Daniel, had no strength left. I was sick for several days. After that, I got up and went back to work for the king. But I did not understand the vision, and that disturbed me.

DAN C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12