Daniel 8:1–12

Vision of a Ram and a Goat

8In ¹the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me—to me, Daniel—after the one that appeared to me ^athe first time. ²I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in ^bShushan, ²the ³citadel, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai. ³Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was ^chigher than the other, and the higher one came up last. ⁴I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could ⁴withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, ^dbut he did according to his will and became great.

⁵And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable ^ehorn between his eyes. ⁶Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. ⁷And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, ⁵attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.

⁸Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it ^ffour notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. ^9gAnd out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, ^htoward the east, and toward the ⁱGlorious Land. ^10jAnd it grew up to ^kthe host of heaven; and ^lit cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. ^11mHe even exalted himself as high as ⁿthe Prince of the host; ^oand by him ^pthe daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of ⁶His sanctuary was cast down. ¹²Because of transgression, ^qan army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast ^rtruth down to the ground. He ^sdid all this and prospered.