DAN 8:8 Parallel Verse View

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Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) Then the billy goat became even more powerful, but at its peak, the large horn was broken, and in its place, four prominent horns came up facing in the four different compass directions.

Key: khaki:verbs.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But when he was mighty, the great horn was broken, and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.

UST The goat became very powerful. But when its power was very great, its horn was broken off. But four other large horns took its place. They each pointed in a different direction.

OEB No OEB DAN book available

WEBBE The male goat magnified himself exceedingly. When he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable horns towards the four winds of the sky.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET 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 in its place, extending toward the four winds of the sky.

LSV And the young male goat has exerted itself very much, and when it is strong, the great horn has been broken; and a vision of four comes up in its place, at the four winds of the heavens.

FBV The goat grew very powerful, but at the height of its power its large horn was broken off. In its place four large horns came up, pointing to the four winds of heaven.[fn]

8:8 “Four winds of heaven”: north, south, east, and west.

T4T The goat became very powerful. But when its power was very great, its horn was broken off. But four other large horns took its place. They each pointed in a different direction.

LEB And the he-goat grew _⌊exceedingly great_⌋,[fn] and _⌊at the height of its power_⌋[fn] the great horn was broken, and four conspicuous horns[fn] came up in place of it toward the four winds of heaven.

8:8 Literally “until much”

8:8 Literally “and at his being powerful”

8:8 LXX reads “others” here for “conspicuous.” The words in Hebrew can be confused for each other

BBE And the he-goat became very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and in its place came up four other horns turned to the four winds of heaven.

Moff Then the he-goat magnified himself mightily. But, at the height of his power, his large horn was broken, and in its place four other horns emerged, pointing to the four winds of heaven.

JPS And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly; and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up the appearance of four horns toward the four winds of heaven.

ASV And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable horns toward the four winds of heaven.

DRA And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards the four winds of heaven.

YLT 'And the young he-goat hath exerted itself very much, and when it is strong, broken hath been the great horn; and come up doth a vision of four in its place, at the four winds of the heavens.

Drby And the he-goat became exceeding great; but when he was become strong, the great horn was broken; and in its stead came up four notable ones toward the four winds of the heavens.

RV And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable horns toward the four winds of heaven.

SLT And the he goat of the goats increased even greatly: and in his being strong the great horn was broken; and there will come up the vision of four underneath it to the four winds of the heavens.

Wbstr Therefore the he-goat became very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and in its stead came up four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven.

KJB-1769 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
(Therefore the he goat waxed/grew very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. )

KJB-1611 Therefore the hee goate waxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horne was broken: and for it came vp foure notable ones, toward the foure windes of heauen.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

Bshps Therefore the goate waxed exceeding great, & when he was at the strongest, his great horne was broken: Then grew there other foure notable ones in the steade of it, towarde the foure windes of the heauen.
(Therefore the goat waxed/grew exceeding great, and when he was at the strongest, his great horn was broken: Then grew there other four notable ones in the stead of it, toward the four winds of the heaven.)

Gnva Therefore the goate waxed exceeding great, and when he was at the strongest, his great horne was broken: and for it came vp foure that appeared toward the foure windes of ye heauen.
(Therefore the goat waxed/grew exceeding great, and when he was at the strongest, his great horn was broken: and for it came up four that appeared toward the four winds of ye/you_all heaven. )

Cvdl The goate waxed exceadinge greate, and when he was at the strongest, his greate horne was broken also. Then grewe there other foure soch like in the steade, towarde the foure wyndes off the heauen.
(The goat waxed/grew exceeding great, and when he was at the strongest, his great horn was broken also. Then grew there other four such like in the stead, toward the four winds off the heaven.)

Wycl Forsothe the buk of geet was maad ful greet; and whanne he hadde encreessid, the greet horn was brokun, and foure hornes risiden vndur it, bi foure wyndis of heuene.
(For_certain/Truly the buk of goat was made full greet; and when he had increased, the great horn was broken, and four horns rose under it, by four winds of heaven.)

Luth Und der Ziegenbock ward sehr groß. Und da er aufs stärkste worden war, zerbrach das große Horn; und wuchsen an des Statt ansehnliche vier gegen die vier Winde des Himmels.
(And the/of_the billy-goat what/which very large. And there he onto stärkste been was, broke the large Horn; and grew at/to the instead_of at/toehnliche four to/against the four winds the heavens.)

ClVg Hircus autem caprarum magnus factus est nimis: cumque crevisset, fractum est cornu magnum, et orta sunt quatuor cornua subter illud per quatuor ventos cæli.
(Hircus however goatrum big became it_is too_much: how_come to_have_grownt, fractum it_is horn magnum, and arose are four horns underneath it/this/that through four with_the_winds heavens. )

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 8:1–27 Daniel had a dream about a ram and a goat

At this point in the narrative, the author of the book of Daniel again began to write in the Hebrew language. He described another vision, this one occurring during the third year of Belshazzar’s reign over Babylon. In this vision Daniel was by the bank of a canal near the city of Susa. He saw a very powerful ram with two horns that charged in all directions. Next he saw a goat with one large horn between its eyes. The goat attacked and defeated the ram and grew very powerful. Its large horn broke and four prominent horns grew in its place. From one of those four horns grew a small horn. That little horn grew as high as the stars, as high as the army of heaven, and as high as the commander of the army. When it was at its highest, it stopped the daily sacrifices and desecrated the temple.

The angel Gabriel came to Daniel and explained the meaning of what he had seen. The ram and the goat represented kings and their kingdoms. The little horn represented a particularly wicked king. That king would even defy God, but in the end that wicked king would be destroyed.

Some versions have two headings within this section. For example:

NET Daniel Has a Vision of a Goat and a Ram (8:1)

An Angel Interprets Daniel’s Vision (8:15)

NRSV Vision of a Ram and a Goat (8:1)

Gabriel Interprets the Vision (8:15)

GNT Daniel’s Vision of a Ram and a Goat

The Angel Gabriel Explains the Vision (8:15)

BFrCL88 Second vision: the Ram and the Goat (8:1)

Interpretation of the second vision (8:15)

GeCL97 A second vision: The battle between the Ram and the Goat (8:1)

The meaning of the vision of the ram and the goat (8:15)

There are a number of similarities between chapter eight and chapter seven. For example, both chapters use symbolic language to describe kingdoms, and both use the symbol of a horn to refer to particular rulers of those kingdoms. In spite of these similarities, it is important to understand that the symbols in the two chapters do not necessarily refer to the same things. For example, while there are similarities between the two little horns, there are also important differences. The Notes will explain some of these differences. The Notes will also suggest ways to translate these symbols.

As noted above, the chapter is divided into two parts, one that describes the vision and one that gives the interpretation of the vision. Both parts lead to a climax. In the first part the horn grew until it became so great that it succeeded in everything it did (8:12). A similar sequence of events occurs in the second part of the vision. Gabriel described the growth of the horn and its climactic success (8:24–26). At the end of the chapter, Gabriel announced that God would destroy the horn (8:25).

The vision includes a number of images that may seem obscure and confusing. It is usually best to translate these images in a literal way. Even Daniel did not understand the full meaning of what he saw.

8:8a

Thus the goat became very great,

¶ As a result, the goat became very powerful.
¶ So the goat made itself more and more powerful/strong.

Thus the goat became very great: The Hebrew phrase that the BSB translates as became very great is more literally “magnified itself to the extreme.” See how you translated the same verb in 8:4d. Here too this statement has negative implications: the goat was acting wrongly, proudly. He did not become great in a good way. Here are some other ways to translate this:

The he-goat then grew more powerful than ever (NJB)

The male goat became very important (GW)

8:8b

but at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off,

but when he was at his most powerful, his large horn broke/snapped.
However, when it was extremely strong, its big horn suddenly broke/fell off.

but at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off: Scholars agree that the large horn is a reference to the Greek king Alexander the Great. He died suddenly in 323 B.C. after conquering large territories as far away as Egypt and India.

at the height of his power: The Hebrew more literally says “just as it became mighty.”

his large horn was broken off: This is a passive clause. The actor is not named. As you translate this, bear in mind that Alexander the Great died from a sudden illness rather than being killed in battle. No human being killed him. There are at least two ways to translate it:

using a passive verb. For example:
the large horn was broken (NASB)
using an active verb. For example:
its great horn broke (REB)
the great horn snapped (NJB)
the large horn fell off

8:8c

and four prominent horns came up in its place,

Then, in its place, four prominent horns came up.
Four tall/long horns grew up where it had been.

8:8d

pointing toward the four winds of heaven.

Each horn grew in a different direction—north, south, east, and west.
One pointed to the north, one to the south, one to the east, and one to the west.

8:8c-d

and four prominent horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of heaven: Alexander’s empire was broken into four parts, each with a different ruler. The phrase toward the four winds of heaven here probably indicates that the horns pointed in the direction of the four winds: north, south, east, and west. Here are some other ways to translate this:

and in its place sprouted four majestic horns, pointing to the four winds of heaven (NJB)

and in place of this there came up four prominent horns pointing towards the four quarters of heaven (REB)

and there arose four conspicuous horns in its place, extending toward the four winds of the sky (NET)

General Comment on 8:8a–d

In some languages it may be natural to break this long sentence into two or more shorter sentences. For example:

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. (NLT)

The male goat became very important. But when the goat became powerful, its large horn broke off. In its place grew four horns. They corresponded to the four winds of heaven. (GW)