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1 In the third year of Cyrus, king of the Persians, a word was revealed to Daniel, surnamed Baltassar, and a true word, and great strength: and he understood the word: for there is need of understanding in a vision. 2 In those days I, Daniel, mourned the days of three weeks. 3 I ate no desirable bread, and neither flesh, nor wine, entered into my mouth, neither was I anointed with ointment: till the days of three weeks were accomplished.

4 And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, I was by the great river, which is the Tigris. 5 And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw: and behold a man clothed in linen, and his loins were girded with the finest gold: 6 And his body was like the chrysolite, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as a burning lamp: and his arms, and all downward even to the feet, like in appearance to glittering brass: and the voice of his word like the voice of a multitude. 7 And I, Daniel alone, saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw it not: but an exceeding great terror fell upon them, and they fled away, and hid themselves. 8 And I, being left alone, saw this great vision: and there remained no strength in me, and the appearance of my countenance was changed in me, and I fainted away, and retained no strength.

9 And I heard the voice of his words: and when I heard I lay in a consternation upon my face, and my face was close to the ground. 10 And behold a hand touched me, and lifted me up upon my knees, and upon the joints of my hands. 11 And he said to me: Daniel, you man of desires, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright: for I am sent now to you. And when he had said this word to me, I stood trembling. 12 And he said to me: Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, to afflict yourself in the sight of your God, your words have been heard: and I have come for your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me one and twenty days: and behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there by the king of the Persians. 14 But I have come to teach you what things shall befall your people in the latter days, for as yet the vision is for days.

15 And when he was speaking such words to me, I cast down my countenance to the ground, and held my peace. 16 And behold as it were the likeness of a son of man touched my lips: then I opened my mouth and spoke, and said to him that stood before me: O my lord, at the sight of you my joints are loosed, and no strength has remained in me. 17 And how can the servant of my lord speak with my lord? For no strength remains in me; moreover, my breath is stopped. 18 Therefore, he that looked like a man, touched me again, and strengthened me. 19 And he said: Fear not, O man of desires, peace be to you: take courage, and be strong. And when he spoke to me, I grew strong, and I said: Speak, O my lord, for you have strengthened me.

20 And he said: Do you know wherefore I have come to you? And now I will return, to fight against the prince of the Persians. When I went forth, there appeared the prince of the Greeks coming. 21 But I will tell you what is set down in the scripture of truth: and none is my helper in all these things, but Michael your prince.

 

10:2-3 Daniel abstained from pleasures, not through any horror of pleasure as though it were evil in itself, but for some praiseworthy end, in order, namely, to adapt himself to the heights of contemplation by abstaining from pleasures of the body. So the text goes on to tell of the revelation that he received immediately afterwards. (St. Thomas Aquinas) 10:5-6 Most commentators say this was an angel, while St. Hippolytus says it was the Lord. But verses 10:13-14 show that it must have been an angel. 10:7 The Apostle Paul had a similar experience in the Book of Acts, in that while the others could see nothing, he alone beheld the vision (Acts 22:9). 10:11 It was fitting that he be addressed as a man of desires, for by dint of urgent prayer and affliction of body and the discipline of severe fasting he desired to learn of the future and to be informed of the secret counsels of God. Instead of "man of desires," Symmachus rendered it as "desirable man." The term is apt, for every saint possesses a beauty of soul and is beloved by the Lord. (St. Jerome) 10:13 prince of the kingdom of the Persians: And we can not possibly doubt that this prince of the kingdom of the

Persians was a hostile power, which favored the nation of the Persians an enemy of God’s people; for in order to hinder the good which it saw would result from the solution of the question for which the prophet prayed the Lord, by the archangel, in its jealousy it opposed itself to prevent the saving comfort of the angel from reaching Daniel too speedily, and from strengthening the people of God, over which the archangel Gabriel was: and Gabriel said that even then, owing to the fierceness of his assaults, he would not have been able to come to him, had not Michael the archangel come to help him, and met the prince of the kingdom of the Persians, and joined battle with him, and intervened, and defended him from his attack, and so enabled him to come to instruct the prophet after twenty-one days. (St. John Cassian) chief princes: By chief princes we are of course to understand archangels. (St. Jerome) 10:14 We need to keep this point in mind as we read these last chapters. They do speak in part of the fate of Israel in the relatively near future. But they refer even more to the last period. The only specific that will be given will refer to Antiochus IV, but yet as we said, it extends even to the end. (Fr. Most)

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10:16 at the sight of you my joints are loosed: By this he meant a certain dislocation of the bones which takes place when the soul falls into an ecstasy. But it is not to be supposed that these visits of God are always attended by such terrors and distress of nature: that happens to them only who are entering the state of illumination and perfection, and in this kind of communication; for in others they come with great sweetness. (St. John of the Cross) 10:21-22 So then we read that the prince of the Greeks, who since he was patron of that nation which was subject to him

seems to have been opposed to the nation of the Persians as well as to the people of Israel. From which we clearly see that antagonistic powers raise against each other those quarrels of nations, and conflicts and dissensions, which they show among themselves at their instigation, and that they either exult at their victories or are cast down at their defeats, and thus cannot live in harmony among themselves, while each of them is always striving with restless jealousy on behalf of those whom he presides over, against the patron of some other nation. (St. John Cassian)