Daniel sees a ram in a vision 1 In the third year of the reign of King Baltasar, a vision appeared to me. I, Daniel, after what I had seen in the beginning, 2 saw in my vision when I was in the castle of Susa, which is in the province of Elam: and I saw in the vision that I was over the gate of Ulai. 3 And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold a ram stood before the water, having two high horns, and one higher than the other, and growing up. 4 Afterward I saw the ram pushing with his horns against the west, and against the north, and against the south: and no beasts could withstand him, nor be delivered out of his hand: and he did according to his own will, and became great.
A he-goat attacks the ram 5 And I understood: and behold a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and he touched not the ground, and the he goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6 And he went up to the ram that had the horns, which I had seen standing before the gate, and he ran towards him in the force of his strength. 7 And when he had come near the ram, he was enraged against him, and struck the ram: and broke his two horns, and the ram could not withstand him: and when he had cast him down on the ground, he stamped upon him, and none could deliver the ram out of his hand. 8 And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards the four winds of heaven.
The little horn's strength is magnified 9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn: and it became great against the south, and against the east, and against the strength. 10 And it was magnified even unto the strength of heaven: and it threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them. 11 And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength: and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of his sanctuary. 12 And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice, because of sins: and truth shall be cast down on the ground, and he shall do and shall prosper. 13 And I heard one of the saints speaking, and one saint said to another I know not to whom, that was speaking: How long shall be the vision, concerning the continual sacrifice, and the sin of the desolation that is made: and the sanctuary, and the strength be trodden under foot? 14 And he said to him: Unto evening and morning two thousand three hundred days: and the sanctuary shall be cleansed.
The angel Gabriel appears to Daniel 15 And it came to pass when I, Daniel, saw the vision, and sought the meaning, that behold there stood before me as it were the appearance of a man. 16 And I heard the voice of a man between Ulai: and he called, and said: Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. 17 And he came, and stood near where I stood: and when he had come, I fell on my face, trembling, and he said to me: Understand, O son of man, for in the time of the end the vision shall be fulfilled. 18 And when he spoke to me, I fell flat on the ground: and he touched me, and set me upright. 19 And he said to me: I will show you what things are to come to pass in the end of the malediction: for the time has its end.
The angel interprets the vision 20 The ram, which you saw with horns, is the king of the Medes and Persians. 21 And the he goat, is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn that was between his eyes, the same is the first king. 22 But whereas when that was broken, there arose up four for it, four kings shall rise up of his nation, but not with his strength. 23 And after their reign, when iniquities shall be grown up, there shall arise a king of a shameless face, and understanding dark sentences. 24 And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his own force: and he shall lay all things waste, and shall prosper, and do more than can be believed. And he shall destroy the mighty, and the people of the saints, 25 according to his will, and craft shall be successful in his hand: and his heart shall be puffed up, and in the abundance of all things he shall kill many: and he shall rise up against the prince of princes, and shall be broken without hand. 26 And the vision of the evening and the morning, which was told, is true: you, therefore, seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days. 27 And I, Daniel, languished, and was sick for some days: and when I was risen up, I did the king's business, and I was astonished at the vision, and there was none that could interpret it
Commentary on Daniel 8
8:1-27 The prophet having thus instructed us with all exactness as to the certainty of the things that are to be, broke off from his present subject in chapter 7, and passed again to the kingdom of the Persians and Greeks, recounting to us another vision which took place, and was fulfilled in its proper time; in order that, by establishing our belief in this, he might be able to present us to God as ready believers in the things of the future. Accordingly, what he had narrated in the first vision concerning the kingdom of the Persians and the Greeks, he again recounts in detail for the edification of the faithful. (St. Hippolytus)
8:3-6 The ram was the King of Media and Persia, that is, Darius; and the he-goat was Alexander, the son of Philip, the Macedonian. (Aphrahat) The two horns are the two powers, which Darius possessed, as the kingdom was subjected to two races, since the Medes and Persians were indicated together. (Ishodad of Merv) notable horn: refers to the first king, Alexander himself. (St. Jerome)
8:8 four horns: Alexander's four generals rose up in his place and divided his empire among themselves. For Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, seized Egypt; the Philip who was also called Aridaeus, the half- brother of Alexander took over Macedonia; Seleucus Nicanor took over Syria, Babylonia, and all the kingdoms of the East; and Antigonus ruled over Asia Minor. "But they shall not rise up with his power" (verse 22), since no one was able to equal the greatness of Alexander himself. (St. Jerome)
8:9-12 little horn: For Antiochus arose, surnamed Epiphanes, who was of the line of Alexander. And after he had reigned in Syria, and brought under him all Egypt, he went up to Jerusalem, and entered the sanctuary, and seized all the treasures in the house of the Lord, and the golden candlestick,and the table, and the altar, and made a great slaughter in the land; For it happened that the sanctuary |
remained desolate during that period, until Judas Maccabæus arose after the death of his father Matthias, and withstood him, and destroyed the encampment of Antiochus, and delivered the city, and recovered the sanctuary, and restored it in strict accordance with the law. (St. Hippolytus) ," this means that he lifted himself up against God and persecuted His saints. He even took away the endelekhismos or "continual offering" which was customarily sacrificed in the morning and at even, and he prevailed to the casting down of the "place of His sanctuary." And he did not do this by his own prowess, but only "on account of the sins of the people." And thus it came to pass that truth was prostrated upon the ground, and as the worship of idols flourished, the religion of God suffered an eclipse. (St. Jerome)
8:13 One angel asks another angel for how long a period the Temple is by the judgment of God to be desolated under the rule of Antiochus, King of Syria, and how long the image of Jupiter is to stand in God's Temple. (St. Jerome)
8:14 two thousand three hundred days: That is, six years and almost four months; which was the whole time from the beginning of the persecution of Antiochus till his death. (Bishop Challoner) If we read the Books of Maccabees and the history of Josephus, we shall find it there recorded that in the one hundred and forty-third year after the Seleucus who first reigned in Syria after the decease of Alexander, Antiochus entered Jerusalem, and after wreaking a general devastation he returned again in the third year and set up the statue of Jupiter in the Temple. Up until the time of Judas Macca-baeus, that is, up until the one hundred and eighth year, Jerusalem lay waste over a period of six years, and for three of those years the Temple lay defiled; making up a total of two thousand three hundred days plus three months. (St. Jerome) |
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:16 St. Augustine said "Christ is understood to have given this command to Gabriel." Ephrem the Syrian said Daniel's "guardian angel, who never parted from him, asked Gabriel." And St. Jerome said "the Jews claim that this man who directed Gabriel to explain the vision to Daniel was Michael himself.
8:17 He is addressed as son of man, in order that he might realize that he is but a human being. (St. Jerome) |
8:19-25 In a more general way it can point to the time of the Antichrist on account of his great wickedness. But more specifically this is the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, who was a figure of the Antichrist, who pursued the worship of God. for the time has its end: that is when those things will be completed. (Nicholas of Lyra)
8:26 seal up the vision: that is, to leave it obscure for many people. (Theodoret of Cyrus) |
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The Vision and the Interpretation side-by-side
| 3 And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold a ram stood before the water, having two high horns, and one higher than the other, and growing up. 4 Afterward I saw the ram pushing with his horns against the west, and against the north, and against the south: and no beasts could withstand him, nor be delivered out of his hand: and he did according to his own will, and became great. |
20 The ram, which you saw with horns, is the king of the Medes and Persians. |
| 5 And I understood: and behold a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and he touched not the ground, and the he goat had a notable horn between his eyes. |
21 And the he goat, is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn that was between his eyes, the same is the first king. |
| 8 And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards the four winds of heaven. |
22 But whereas when that was broken, there arose up four for it, four kings shall rise up of his nation, but not with his strength. |
| 9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn: and it became great against the south, and against the east, and against the strength. 10 And it was magnified even unto the strength of heaven: and it threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them. 11 And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength: and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of his sanctuary. 12 And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice, because of sins: and truth shall be cast down on the ground, and he shall do and shall prosper. 13 And I heard one of the saints speaking, and one saint said to another I know not to whom, that was speaking: How long shall be the vision, concerning the continual sacrifice, and the sin of the desolation that is made: and the sanctuary, and the strength be trodden under foot? 14 And he said to him: Unto evening and morning two thousand three hundred days: and the sanctuary shall be cleansed. |
23 And after their reign, when iniquities shall be grown up, there shall arise a king of a shameless face, and understanding dark sentences. 24 And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his own force: and he shall lay all things waste, and shall prosper, and do more than can be believed. And he shall destroy the mighty, and the people of the saints, 25 according to his will, and craft shall be successful in his hand: and his heart shall be puffed up, and in the abundance of all things he shall kill many: and he shall rise up against the prince of princes, and shall be broken without hand. |
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