Daniel 8:1–12:13

The Vision of the Ram and Goat

¹In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me, ¹Daniel, after the one which appeared to me ²previously.

²And I ^alooked in the vision. And it happened that while I was looking, I was in the citadel of ^bSusa, which is in the province of ^cElam; and I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai ¹Canal.

³Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ^aram which had two horns was standing in front of the ¹canal. Now the two horns were ²long, but one was ³longer than the other, with the ⁴longer one coming up last.

⁴I saw the ram ^abutting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before it, nor was there anyone to deliver from its ¹power, but ^bit did as it pleased and magnified itself.

⁵And while I was considering, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the ¹goat had a ^aconspicuous horn between its eyes.

⁶Then it came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the ¹canal, and ran at it in his strong wrath.

⁷And I saw it reach the side of the ram, and it was enraged at it; and it struck the ram and broke its two horns in pieces, and the ram had no strength to stand in ¹opposition to it. So it threw it down to the ground and trampled on it, and there was none to deliver the ram from its ²power.

⁸Then the male goat magnified itself exceedingly. But as soon as ^ait was mighty, the ^blarge horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the ^cfour winds of ¹heaven.

The Small Horn

⁹And out of one of them came forth a rather ^asmall horn. And it grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the ^1bBeautiful Land.

¹⁰Then it grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the ^astars to fall to the earth, and it ^btrampled them down.

¹¹And it even ^amagnified itself ¹to be equal with the ²Commander of the host; and it removed the ^bregular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.

¹²And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will ^athrow truth down to the ground and do its will and succeed.

¹³Then I heard a ^aholy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, “^bHow long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, ¹while the transgression causes desolation, so as to allow both the holy place and the host ²to be ^ctrampled?”

¹⁴He said to me, “For ^a2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be ¹made righteous.”

Daniel Seeks to Understand the Vision

¹⁵Now it happened when ^aI, Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought ¹to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one ²who had the appearance of a ^bman.

¹⁶And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, “^aGabriel, give this man an understanding of what has appeared.”

¹⁷So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was terrified and ^afell on my face; but he said to me, “Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the ^btime of the end.”

¹⁸Now while he was talking with me, I ^asank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he ^btouched me and made me stand ¹upright.

¹⁹Then he said, “Behold, I am going to ^alet you know what will happen at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.

²⁰“The ^aram which you saw with the two horns is the kings of Media and Persia.

²¹“Now the shaggy ¹goat is the ²king of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

²²“And the ^abroken horn and the four horns that stood in its place are four kingdoms which will take their stand from his nation, although not with his power.

²³“In the latter period of their ¹reign,

When the transgressors have ²run their course,

A king will stand,

³Insolent and skilled in ⁴intrigue.

²⁴“His power will be mighty, but not by his own power,

And he will ^1adestroy to an ²astonishing degree

And succeed and do his will;

He will ³destroy mighty men and ⁴the holy people.

²⁵“And through his insight

He will cause deceit to succeed by his hand;

And he will magnify himself in his heart,

And he will ¹destroy many while they are ²at ease.

He will even ^astand against the Prince of princes,

But he will be broken ^bwithout hands.

²⁶“And what had appeared about the evenings and mornings

Which has been told is ^atrue;

But as for you, ^bconceal the vision,

For it pertains to many ^cdays in the future.”

²⁷Then I, Daniel, was ^1aexhausted and sick for days. Then I rose up again and ^bdid the king’s work; but I was appalled at what had appeared, and there was none to make me understand it.

CHAPTER 9

Daniel’s Prayer of Supplication

¹In the first year of ^aDarius the son of Ahasuerus, from the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—

²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the ^anumber of the years concerning which the word of ¹Yahweh came to ^bJeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, ^cseventy years.

³So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

⁴And I prayed to Yahweh my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the ^agreat and awesome God, who ^bkeeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

^5awe have sinned and committed iniquity and acted wickedly and ^brebelled, even ^cturning aside from Your commandments and judgments.

⁶“Moreover, we have not ^alistened to Your slaves the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.

⁷“^aTo You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us ^1bopen shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in ^call the countries to which You have banished them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.

⁸“O Yahweh, to us belongs ¹open shame, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.

⁹“To the Lord our God belong ^acompassion and forgiveness, ¹for we have ^brebelled against Him;

¹⁰nor have we listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, to walk in His ¹laws which He ^aput before us through His slaves the prophets.

¹¹“Indeed ^aall Israel has trespassed against Your law, even turning aside, not listening to Your voice; so the ^bcurse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the ¹law of Moses the ²servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.

¹²“Thus He has ^aestablished His words which He had spoken against us and against our ^bjudges who judged us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has ^cnot been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.

¹³“As it is written in the ^1alaw of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have ^bnot ²entreated the favor of Yahweh our God by ^cturning from our iniquity and acting wisely in Your truth.

¹⁴“Therefore Yahweh has ^awatched over the calamity and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is ^brighteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not listened to His voice.

¹⁵“So now, O Lord our God, who have ^abrought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and have ^bmade a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned; we have acted wickedly.

¹⁶“O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteousness, let now Your ^aanger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your ^bholy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a ^creproach to all those around us.

¹⁷“So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your slave and to his supplications, and for ¹Your sake, O Lord, ^alet Your face shine on Your ^bdesolate sanctuary.

¹⁸“O my God, ^aincline Your ear and listen! Open Your eyes and ^bsee our desolations and the city which is ^ccalled by Your name; for we are not ^1dpresenting our supplications before You on account of any righteousness of our own, but on account of Your abundant compassion.

¹⁹“O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give heed and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, ^ado not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Gabriel Brings Understanding

²⁰Now while I was ^aspeaking and praying, and ^bconfessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and ¹presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,

²¹and while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man ^aGabriel, whom I had seen in the vision ¹previously, ²touched me ³in my extreme weariness about the time of the ^bevening offering.

²²Then he made me understand and spoke with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with ^aunderstanding.

²³“At the ^abeginning of your supplications the word was issued, so I have come to tell you, for you are ^1bhighly esteemed; so understand the message and gain ^cunderstanding in what has appeared.

Seventy Weeks and the Messiah

²⁴“Seventy ^1aweeks have been determined for your people and for your holy city, to ²finish the transgression, to ³make an end of sin, to ^bmake atonement for iniquity, to bring in ^ceverlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and ⁴prophecy, and to anoint the Holy of Holies.

²⁵“So you are to know and have insight that from the going out of a ^1aword to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until ^2bMessiah the ^cPrince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be restored and rebuilt, with ³plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

²⁶“Then after the sixty-two weeks the ¹Messiah will be ^acut off and have ²nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will ^bdestroy the city and the sanctuary. And ³its end will come with a ^cflood; even to the end ⁴there will be war; desolations are decreed.

²⁷“And he will…