Daniel 8:1–12:13

The Vision of a Small Horn that Oppresses Israel and Threatens the Temple

8In the third year of the kingdom of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me, Daniel,^a after the one that appeared to me previously.^{b 2}And I saw in the vision, and when I saw,^c I was in Susa, the citadel that was in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I myself^d was at the stream of Ulai.^{e 3}And I lifted up my eyes and I saw, and look! A ram^f standing before^g the stream, and it had^h two horns, and the horns were long, but the one was longer than the second, and the longer one came up after the other one.^{i 4}I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward, and none of the beasts stood before it,^j and there was no rescuing from its power,^k and it did what it wanted^l and it became strong.^m

⁵And I was considering this, and look, a he-goat coming from the west across the face of the whole earth, and it was not touching the ground;ⁿ and the he-goat had a conspicuous horn^o between its eyes. ⁶Then it came toward the ram that had the two horns^p that I saw standing before^q the stream, and it ran at it with^r the rage of its power. ⁷And I saw it approaching the ram and it was furious at it, and it struck the ram, and it broke its two horns, and there was not strength in the ram to stand before him,^s and he threw it down to the ground and trampled it, and there was no one who could rescue the ram^t from its power. ⁸And the he-goat grew exceedingly great,^u and at the height of its power^v the great horn was broken, and four conspicuous horns^w came up in place of it toward the four winds of heaven.

⁹And from one of them^x came forth a horn, a little one,^y and it grew exceedingly^z toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beautiful land. ¹⁰And it grew up to the host of heaven, and it threw down to the ground some of the host and some of the stars and trampled them. ¹¹Even against the prince of the hosts it acted arrogantly and took away from him the regular burnt offering, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. ¹²And on account of transgression, the host was given over to the horn in addition to the regular burnt offering. And it cast down truth to the ground, and it acted,^a and it had success.

¹³And I heard a certain holy one speaking, and a certain other holy one said to the specific one who was speaking,^b “For how long^c is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, and the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and the host to trampling?” ¹⁴And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings, then the sanctuary will be restored.”

Gabriel Gives Angelic Help and Interprets the Vision

¹⁵And then^d when I, Daniel, saw the vision, and I was seeking understanding, there was one standing before me with the appearance of a man. ¹⁶And I heard the voice of a human at the Ulai, and he called and said, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” ¹⁷And he came beside where I was standing,^e and when he came^f I became terrified and I fell prostrate on my face. And he said to me, “Understand, son of man,^g that the vision is for the time of the end.”

¹⁸And when he spoke^h with me I fell into a trance with my face to the ground, and he touched me and made me stand on my feet. ¹⁹And he said, “Look, I am making known to you what will happen in the period of wrath,ⁱ for it refers to the appointed time of the end.

²⁰“The ram that you saw who had two horns^j represents the kings of Media and Persia.

²¹“And the hairy he-goat is the kingdom^k of Greece, and the great horn that is between his eyes—he is the first king. ²²And the horn that was broken, and then there arose four horns in place of it—these are four kingdoms that will arise from his nation, but not with his power. ²³And at the end of their kingdom, when the transgressions are completed, a king will arise, fierce in countenance and skilled in riddles. ²⁴And his power will grow, but not by his own power, and he will cause fearful destruction, and he will succeed and he will act,^l and he will destroy the mighty and the people of the holy ones.^{m 25}And by his planningⁿ he will make a success of deceit by^o his hand, and in his mind^p he will boast,^q and in their ease he will destroy many, and even against the prince of princes he will rise up, and he will be broken, but not by human hands. ²⁶And the vision of the evening and the morning that has been described,^r it is true; and you, seal up the vision, for it refers to many days to come.”^s

²⁷And I, Daniel, was overcome, and I became ill for some days, and I performed^t the business of the king, and I was dismayed over the vision and I did not understand it.^u

Daniel’s Prayer for His People

9In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus,^a from the offspring of the Medes, who became king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— ²in the first year of his kingship I, Daniel, observed in the scrolls the number of the years that it was that were to be fulfilled according to the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet for the devastation of Jerusalem—seventy years.

³Then I turned my face to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and pleas for mercy,^b in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes. ⁴And I prayed to Yahweh my God, and I made confession and I said, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, keeping the covenant and loyal love with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments, ⁵we have sinned and we have done wrong and we acted wickedly and we rebelled and have been turning aside from your commandments and from your ordinances. ⁶We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors^c and to all the people of the land.

⁷“Righteousness belongs to you, O Lord,^d and on us is open shame, just as it is this day to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far off^e in all the lands to which you have driven them,^f because of their infidelity which they displayed against you. ⁸Yahweh, on us is open shame, on our kings, on our princes, and on our ancestors,^g because we have sinned against you. ⁹Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord, our God,^h for we have rebelled against him, ¹⁰and we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, by following his law which he placed before usⁱ by the hand of his servants the prophets.

¹¹“And all Israel transgressed your law and turned aside so as not to listen to your voice, and so the curse and the oath which was written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. ¹²And so he has carried out his words which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring upon us a great calamity which was not done under all of heaven as it was done in Jerusalem. ¹³Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all of this calamity has come upon us, and we have not implored^j the face of Yahweh our God so as to turn from our iniquities and to attend closely to your faithfulness.^{k 14}So Yahweh has kept watch over the^l calamity, and now he has brought it upon us. Indeed, Yahweh our God is righteous concerning all his works^m that he has done, but we have not listened to his voice.

¹⁵“And now, Lord our God, who have brought your people out from the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and you have made for yourself a name until this day—we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. ¹⁶Lord, according to all your righteousness, please let your anger and your rage turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain,ⁿ because through our sins and through the iniquities of our ancestors^o Jerusalem and your people have become an object of mockery among all of our neighbors.

¹⁷“And now, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy. Shine^p your face upon your desolate sanctuary for your sake, O Lord.^{q 18}Incline your ear, my God, and listen; open your eyes and look at our desolation and the city that is called by your name, for we are not presenting our pleas for mercy before you^r because of our righteousness, but rather because of your great compassion. ¹⁹Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, pay heed and act! You must not delay for your sake,^s my God; because your city and your people are called by your name.”^t

Gabriel’s Announcement and Presentation of the Seventy Sets of Seven

²⁰Now I was still speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before^u Yahweh my God, on behalf of the holy mountain of my God.^{v 21}And I was still speaking in prayer, and the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously,^w in my weariness touched me^x at the time of the evening offering. ²²And he instructed me and he spoke with me and he said, “Daniel I have now come out^y to teach you understanding. ²³At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and now I have come to declare^z it, for you are highly esteemed, and so consider the word and understand the vision.

The Seventy Sets of Seven Detailed

²⁴“Seventy weeks is decreed for your people and for your holy city,^a to put an end to the transgression and to seal up sin^b and to make atonement for guilt and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal vision and prophet and to anoint the most holy place.^{c 25}And you must know and you must understand^d that from the time of the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem until an anointed^e one—a leader—will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;^f it will be restored and will be built with streets and a moat, but in a time of oppression.^g

²⁶“And after the sixty and two weeks an anointed one^h shall be cut off, and he shall have nothing,ⁱ and the people of the coming leader will destroy the city and the sanctuary,^j and its end will be with the flood and on to the end there shall be war; these desolations are determined. ²⁷And he will make a strong…