Another vision about King Antiochus
1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, I, Daniel, had another vision.
2 In the vision, I saw myself in Susa, the fortified city in the province of Elam; I noticed that I was by the river Ulai.
3 I raised my eyes and saw a ram standing before the river. It had two long horns, but one was longer than the other.
4 I saw the ram charging westward, northward and southward. No animal could resist it, none could escape its power. It did as it pleased and so became great.
5 As I was thinking, a he-goat came from the west, as if flying above the entire earth without touch ing the ground; it had a great horn between its eyes.
6 It ap proached the ram with the two horns which I had seen by the river, and it ran towards the ram with all the fury of its strength.
7 I saw how it reached the ram and directed itself against it; it charged the ram and broke its two horns, and the ram was unable to resist. It cast it down to the ground and crushed it. No one could free the ram from its power.
8 The he-goat became very great, but when it was powerful, the great horn snapped and in its place sprang four great horns facing the four winds of heaven.
9 From one of these, the small one, sprang a horn which grew big towards the south and east and towards the Beautiful Land.
10 It grew up to the army of heaven and flung part of the stars to the ground and crushed them under foot.
11 It even came to the Commander of the army, deprived him of the perpetual sacrifice and made useless his temple
12 and the army. It put Abomination in place of the sa crifice and flung Truth to the ground. And whatever it undertook succeeded.
13 Then I heard a holy one speaking and another who asked him in return, “When shall the vision be fulfilled? What about the perpetual offering, the Abo mination of the devastator, the sanctuary handed over and the army trampled underfoot?”
14 He answered, “Until two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings have gone by, then the Temple shall be restored.”
15 As I, Daniel, looked at this vision and tried to understand it, I suddenly saw before me someone like a man,
16 and I heard a human voice over the river Ulai that cried out to him: “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.”
17 He approached the place where I was. When he came, I was terrified and fell on my face. He said to me, “Son of man, understand: this vision refers to the end-time.”
18 As he spoke, I lost consciousness and fell face down on the ground. He touched me and raised me to my feet.
19 Then he said, “See, I will re veal to you what is going to happen when the wrath comes to an end, for the end is set.
20 The ram you have seen, with its two horns, stands for the two kings of the Medes and the Persians.
21 The hairy he-goat is the king of Greece; the great horn between its eyes is the first of its kings; this horn snapped,
22 and the four horns that sprang up in its place are the four kingdoms that will rise from his nation, but will not overpower him.
23 At the end of their reign, when the sinners have reached their full number, a king will arise, insolent and wise in cunning.
24 His strength will increase, so that he shall plot things unheard of before.
Whatever he undertakes shall prosper, he shall destroy the powerful and the very people of the holy ones.
25 He shall carry out his deceits, will be believed in by many and, in the fullness of peace, shall destroy many. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes, but he shall be destroyed without the intervention of any human hand.
26 What I said of the vision of the mornings and evenings is true, but keep the vision secret, for it will be fulfilled only in the remote future.”
27 I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for several days. Then I got up to attend to the king’s affairs. I remained frightened because of the vision and did not understand it.
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Comments , Chapter 8
• 8.1 The same message is repeated in the follow ing chapters. God’s salvation will come at the most critical moment of the persecution. More details are added to assure the Jews that all the events they are witnessing are already known to God ahead of time: while the events are taking place, God has already appointed the time when he will come to save.