Daniel 8

1 In the third year of the rule of Belshazzar the king, a vision was seen by me, Daniel, after the one I saw at first.

In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign I, Daniel, saw another vision after the one I had seen previously.

2 And I saw in the vision; and when I saw it, I was in the strong town Shushan, which is in the country of Elam; and in the vision I was by the water-door of the Ulai.

In my vision I looked around and saw I was in the castle at Susa in the province of Elam. In the vision I was beside the River Ulai.

3 And lifting up my eyes, I saw, there before the stream, a male sheep with two horns: and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, the higher one coming up last.

I looked around and saw a ram standing beside the river. It had two long horns, one longer than the other, even though the longer one had grown last.

4 I saw the sheep pushing to the west and to the north and to the south; and no beasts were able to keep their place before him, and no one was able to get people out of his power; but he did whatever his pleasure was and made himself great.

I watched the ram charging west, north, and south. No animal could stand up to it—nor was there any chance of rescue from its power. It did whatever it wanted and grew powerful.

5 And while I was giving thought to this, I saw a he-goat coming from the west over the face of all the earth without touching the earth: and the he-goat had a great horn between his eyes.

As I was thinking about what I'd seen, a male goat came in from the west, racing in across the surface of the earth so fast it didn't touch the ground. It had a large, prominent horn between its eyes.

6 And he came to the two-horned sheep which I saw before the stream, rushing at him in the heat of his power.

It approached the ram with the two horns which I had seen standing beside the river, rushing in to attack in a furious rage.

7 And I saw him come right up to the sheep, and he was moved with wrath against him, attacking the sheep so that his two horns were broken; and the sheep had not strength to keep his place before him, but was pushed down on the earth and crushed under his feet: and there was no one to get the sheep out of his power.

I watched as the goat charged furiously at the ram, hitting it and breaking off its two horns. The ram did not have the strength to resist the goat's attack. The goat threw the ram to the ground, trampling on it, and there was no possibility of rescuing it from the goat's power.

8 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.

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.

9 And out of one of them came another horn, a little one, which became very great, stretching to the south and to the east and to the beautiful land.

A little horn came up from one of them, and grew extremely powerful to the south and to the east and to the Beautiful Land.

10 And it became great, even as high as the army of heaven, pulling down some of the army, even of the stars, to the earth and crushing them under its feet.

It grew in power until it reached the heavenly army, throwing some of them and some of the stars down to the earth and trampled on them.

11 It made itself great, even as great as the lord of the army; and by it the regular burned offering was taken away, and the place overturned and the holy place made waste.

It even tried to make itself as great as the Prince of the heavenly army—it removed the continual service, and the place of his sanctuary was destroyed.

12 ... against the regular burned offering; and ... crushed down to the earth, and it did its pleasure and things went well for it.

An army of people and the continual service were handed over to it because of rebellion, and it overthrew truth, and it was successful in everything it did.

13 Then there came to my ears the voice of a holy one talking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was talking, How long will the vision be while the regular burned offering is taken away, and the unclean thing causing fear is put up, and the holy place crushed under foot?

Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one asked the one who was speaking, “How long is this vision for—the removal of the continual service, the rebellion that causes devastation, the handing over of the sanctuary and the army of people to be trampled down?”

14 And he said to him, For two thousand, three hundred evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be made clean.

He replied, “For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings, then the sanctuary will be cleansed.”

15 And it came about that when I, Daniel, had seen this vision, I had a desire for the sense of it to be unfolded; and I saw one before me in the form of a man.

As I, Daniel, tried to work out what this vision meant suddenly I saw someone who looked like a man standing in front of me.

16 And the voice of a man came to my ears between the sides of the Ulai, crying out and saying, Gabriel, make the vision clear to this man.

I also heard a human voice calling from the River Ulai, “Gabriel, explain to this man the meaning of the vision.”

17 So he came and took his place near where I was; and when he came, I was full of fear and went down on my face: but he said to me, Let it be clear to you, O son of man; for the vision has to do with the time of the end.

As he approached me, I was terrified and fell face down before him. “Son of man,” he told me, “You need to understand that this vision refers to the time of the end.”

18 Now while he was talking to me, I went into a deep sleep with my face to the earth: but touching me, he put me on my feet where I had been.

As he spoke to me I lost consciousness as I laid face down on the ground. But he took hold of me and helped me to my feet.

19 And he said, See, I will make clear to you what is to come in the later time of the wrath: for it has to do with the fixed time of the end.

He told me, “Pay attention! I'm going to explain to you what's going to happen during the time of anger, which refers to the appointed time of the end.

20 The sheep which you saw with two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia.

The ram with two horns that you saw symbolizes the kings of Media and Persia.

21 And the he-goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn between his eyes is the first king.

The male goat is the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is its first king.

22 And as for that which was broken, in place of which four came up, four kingdoms will come up from his nation, but not with his power.

The four horns that came up in place of the large horn that was broken represent the four kingdoms that arose from that nation, but not as powerful as the first.

23 And in the later years of their kingdom, when their evil doings have become complete, there will come up a king full of pride and expert in dark sayings.

When those kingdoms come to an end, when their sins have reached their fullest extent, a ferocious and treacherous kingdom will rise to power.

24 And his power will be great, and he will be purposing strange things. And all will go well for him and he will do his pleasure; and he will send destruction on the strong ones.

It will become very powerful but not by its own power. It will be terribly destructive, and will succeed in everything it does. It will destroy great leaders and God's dedicated people.

25 And his designs will be turned against the holy people, causing deceit to do well in his hand; in his heart he will make himself great, and send destruction on numbers who are living unconscious of their danger; and he will put himself up against the prince of princes; but he will be broken, though not by men's hands.

Through its deviousness, its lies will be convincing and successful. It shows its arrogance both in thought and action, destroying those who thought they were perfectly safe. It even fights in opposition against the Prince of princes, but it will be defeated, though not by any human power.

26 And the vision of evenings and mornings which has been talked of is true: and keep the vision secret; for it has to do with the far-off future.

The vision about the evenings and mornings that has been explained to you is true, but for now seal up this vision because it refers to the distant future.”

27 And I, Daniel, was ill for some days; then I got up and did the king's business: and I was full of wonder at the vision, but no one was able to give the sense of it.

After this, I, Daniel, became exhausted, and I was sick for days. Then I got up and went back to working for the king, but I was devastated at what I'd seen in vision and I couldn't understand it.