Daniel 8–12

Chapter 8

Vision of the Ram and Goat

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

²I ^alooked in the vision, and 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 longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last.

⁴I saw the ram ^abutting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his ¹power, but ^bhe did as he pleased and magnified himself.

⁵While I was observing, 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 his eyes.

⁶He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the ¹canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath.

⁷I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his ¹power.

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

The Little Horn

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

¹⁰It 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.

¹¹It 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 ^afling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.

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 horror, 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 ¹properly restored.”

Interpretation of the Vision

¹⁵When ^aI, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought ¹to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one ²who looked like 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 the vision.”

¹⁷So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened 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.

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

The Ram’s Identity

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

The Goat

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

²²“The ^abroken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power.

²³“In the latter period of their ¹rule,

When the transgressors have ²run their course,

A king will arise,

³Insolent and skilled in ⁴intrigue.

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

And he will ^1adestroy to an extraordinary degree

And prosper and perform his will;

He will destroy mighty men and ²the holy people.

²⁵“And through his shrewdness

He will cause deceit to succeed by his ¹influence;

And he will magnify himself in his heart,

And he will ²destroy many while they are ³at ease.

He will even ^4aoppose the Prince of princes,

But he will be broken ^bwithout human agency.

²⁶“The vision of the evenings and mornings

Which has been told is ^atrue;

But ^bkeep the vision secret,

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

²⁷Then I, Daniel, was ^1aexhausted and sick for days. Then I got up again and ^bcarried on the king’s business; but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to ²explain it.

Chapter 9

Daniel’s Prayer for His People

¹In the first year of ^aDarius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—

²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to ^aJeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

³So I ¹gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

⁴I prayed to the Lord 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, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and ^brebelled, even ^cturning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.

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

⁷“^aRighteousness belongs to You, O Lord, 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 driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.

⁸“¹Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, 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 obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His ¹teachings which He ^aset before us through His servants the prophets.

¹¹“Indeed ^aall Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the ^bcurse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.

¹²“Thus He has ^aconfirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our ^1brulers who ruled 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 ^alaw of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have ^bnot ¹sought the favor of the Lord our God by ^cturning from our iniquity and ²giving attention to Your truth.

¹⁴“Therefore the Lord has ^1akept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is ^brighteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.

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

¹⁶“O Lord, in accordance with all Your ¹righteous acts, 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 servant 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 hear! 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 ²any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.

¹⁹“O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen 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 an Answer

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

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

²²He gave me instruction and talked 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 ¹command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are ^2bhighly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain ^cunderstanding of the vision.

Seventy Weeks and the Messiah

²⁴“Seventy ^1aweeks have been decreed for your people and 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 most holy place.

²⁵“So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a ^1adecree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until ^2bMessiah the ^cPrince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, 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 determined.

²⁷“And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of ^1aabominations will come…