Daniel 8

¹ In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me the first time.

² And I saw in the vision, and it happened when I looked that I was at Shushan, the palace, which is in the province of Elam. And in the vision I saw that I was by the Ulai River.

³ Then I lifted up my eyes and looked. And behold, a ram was standing before the river, having horns. And the horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.

⁴ I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward, so that no beasts could stand before him, and no one could deliver out of his hand. But he did according to his will and became great.

⁵ And as I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west, over the face of the whole earth and did not touch the ground. And the he goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.

⁶ And he came to the ram with the horns which I had seen standing before the river, and ran at him with furious power.

⁷ And I saw him come close to the ram. And he was enraged against him. And he struck the ram and broke his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to stand before him. But he threw him down to the ground and trampled him. And there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.

⁸ Then the male goat became very great. And when he became strong, the great horn was broken. And in its place came up four conspicuous ones toward the four winds of the heavens.

⁹ And out of one of them came a little horn which became very great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beautiful land.

¹⁰ And it became great, even to the host of the heavens. And it caused some of the host and of the stars to fall to the ground, and trampled them.

¹¹ He magnified himself even to the Prince of the host. And the regular sacrifice was taken away by him, and the foundation of His sanctuary was cast down.

¹² And a host was assigned to him against the regular sacrifice because of transgression. And he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.

¹³ Then I heard a certain holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, For how long is the vision, concerning the regular sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to permit both the holy place and the host to be trampled?

¹⁴ And he said to me, For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be put right.

¹⁵ And it happened when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought the understanding, that behold, one having the appearance of a man stood before me.

¹⁶ And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, and he called and said, Gabriel, make this one understand the vision.

¹⁷ And he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was afraid and fell on my face. But he said to me, O son of man, understand that the vision is about the time of the end.

¹⁸ And while he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face toward the ground. But he touched me, and stood me upright.

¹⁹ And he said, Behold, I will make you know what shall happen at the time of the end of the indignation. For at the appointed time the end will come.

²⁰ The ram which you saw with two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

²¹ And the male goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king.

²² And as for that which was broken, and four stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in its power.

²³ And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full, a king shall stand forth, having fierce countenance and understanding sinister schemes.

²⁴ And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. And he shall destroy extraordinarily, and he shall prosper, and work, and destroy the mighty and the holy people.

²⁵ And also through his cunning he will cause deceit to prosper in his hand. And he will magnify himself in his heart, and through prosperity shall destroy many. He shall also stand up against the Ruler of rulers, but he shall be broken in pieces without hands.

²⁶ And the morning and evening vision that was told is true. But you shall close up the vision, for it is yet for many days.

²⁷ And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days. Afterward, I got up and did the king’s business. And I was astonished at the vision, but did not understand it.