1In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me –
to me Daniel – after what had appeared to me at first,
2and I saw in the vision, and it came to pass as I saw that I
was at the citadel of Shushan, which
is in the province of Elam. Then I saw in the vision that I was at the Ulai Canal.
3And I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there
was a ram standing before the canal, and it
had two horns, and the two horns
were high, but one
was higher than the other, and the higher
one arose later.
4I saw the ram butting westwards and northwards and southwards, and no animal
could stand against it, and
there was no-one who delivered
anyone from its grip, and it did as it wished, and it became great.
5And
as I was contemplating
this, what
I saw
was a goat buck come from the west over the expanse of the whole land, not touching the ground, and the goat buck
had a conspicuous horn between its eyes.
6And it came to the ram which had the two horns, which I saw standing at the canal, and it ran to it in its intense fury.
7And I saw it come up to the ram, and it acted ferociously against it, and it struck the ram and shattered its two horns, and there was no strength in the ram to stand against it. And it cast the
ram down onto the ground and trampled on it, and there was no-one who delivered the ram from its grip.
8And the goat buck became very great, but
just as it
was displaying strength, the large horn broke, and four others arose conspicuously in its place, facing the four winds of heaven.
9And from one of them a very small horn came out, but it became exceedingly great southwards and eastwards and towards the Splendid
Land.
10And it became great – as great as the host of the sky – and it brought
some of the host and
some of the stars down to the ground and trampled on them.
11And it magnified
itself to the heights of the prince of the host, and the perpetual
sacrifice was removed from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown,
12so that the host would be delivered up at the
place of the perpetual
sacrifice in transgression, and truth would be cast to the ground. And it did
this and prospered.
13And I heard a holy
one speak, and a holy
one said to the particular
one speaking, “How long
is the vision of the perpetual
sacrifice and the devastating transgression – the delivering up of both the holy
place and the host
to being trampled on?”
14And he said to me, “Until two thousand three hundred evenings
and mornings. Then the sanctuary will be purified.”
15And it came to pass as I, Daniel, saw the vision, that I sought understanding. And what
I saw
was that there stood before me an apparition of a man.
16And I heard the voice of a man in the middle of the Ulai, and he called out and said, “Gabriel, explain the vision to this
man.”
17And he came to my station, and as he came, I was terrified and I fell face down. But he said to me, “Understand, son of Adam, that the vision
is for the end time.”
18And as he spoke to me, I slumped down to the ground face down, and he touched me, and he stood me up at my station.
19And he said, “I
am here making known to you what will take place at the end of the indignation, for
it is for the end
time period.
20The ram which you saw, having two horns,
represents the kings of Media and Persia.
21And the hairy goat
represents the king of Greece, and the large horn which
is between its eyes
is the first king.
22And
as for the horn which
was broken, and the four which stood in its place,
these are four kingdoms out of a people which will stand up, but not in its
own strength.
23And at the end of their kingdom, when transgressors reach their conclusion, a king of fierce appearance,
and shrewd in dealing with problems, will stand up.
24And his power will be mighty, but
it will not
be in his
own power, and he will spoil in an astounding way, and he will prosper and be active, and he will spoil mighty
people including the holy people.
25And through his expertise he will prosper,
with deceit under his control, and in his heart he will magnify
himself, and in calmness he will spoil many, and he will take a stand against the prince of princes. Then without
human power he will be broken.
26Now the vision of the evening and the morning which was declared
is true, but
you close the vision, for
it is for many days
from now.”
27And I, Daniel, became ill for
a number of days. Then I arose and did the king's work, but I was astounded at the vision, and
there was no-one who understood
it.
Reference(s) in Chapter 8: v.26 ↔ Revelation 10:4, Revelation 22:10.