Daniel 8:1–12

Daniel’s Vision of a Ram and a Goat

In the third year of King Belshazzar’s^a reign, I, Daniel, had a vision,^b after the one that had already appeared to me. In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa^c in the province of Elam;^d in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. I looked up,^e and there before me was a ram^f with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power.^g It did as it pleased^h and became great.

As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. It came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at it in great rage. I saw it attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering its two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against it; the goat knocked it to the ground and trampled on it,ⁱ and none could rescue the ram from its power.^j The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off,^k and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.^l

Out of one of them came another horn, which started small^m but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land.ⁿ It grew until it reached^o the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth^p and trampled^q on them. It set itself up to be as great as the commander^r of the army of the Lord;^s it took away the daily sacrifice^t from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down.^u Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.^v