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Daniel 8

ARC · Chapter 8/12

1No anno terceiro do reinado do rei Belshazzar appareceu-me uma visão, a mim, Daniel, depois d'aquella que me appareceu no principio.

2E vi n'uma visão (e aconteceu, quando vi, que eu estava na cidadella de Susan, que está na provincia de Elam), vi pois, n'uma visão, que eu estava junto ao rio Ulai.

3E levantei os meus olhos, e vi, e eis que um carneiro estava diante do rio, o qual tinha duas pontas; e as duas pontas eram altas, porém uma era mais alta do que a outra; e a que era mais alta subiu por ultimo.

4Vi que o carneiro dava marradas para o occidente, e para o norte e para o meio-dia; e nenhuns animaes podiam parar diante d'elle, nem havia quem livrasse da sua mão; e fazia conforme a sua vontade, e se engrandecia.

5E, estando eu considerando, eis que um bode vinha do occidente sobre toda a terra, e não tocava a terra; e aquelle bode tinha uma ponta insigne entre os olhos;

6E vinha ao carneiro que tinha as duas pontas, ao qual eu tinha visto em pé diante do rio; e correu contra elle com todo o impeto da sua força.

7E o vi chegar perto do carneiro, e se irritou contra elle, e feriu o carneiro, e lhe quebrou as duas pontas, pois não havia força no carneiro para parar diante d'elle, e o lançou por terra, e o pizou a pés; nem houve quem livrasse o carneiro da sua mão

8E o bode se engrandeceu em grande maneira; mas, estando na sua maior força, aquella grande ponta foi quebrada: e subiram no seu logar outras quatro insignes, para os quatro ventos do céu.

9E de uma d'ellas saiu uma ponta mui pequena, a qual cresceu muito para o meio-dia, e para o oriente, e para a terra formosa.

10E se engrandeceu até ao exercito do céu: e a alguns do exercito, e das estrellas, deitou por terra, e as pizou.

11E se engrandeceu até ao principe do exercito: e por elle foi tirado o continuo sacrificio, e o logar do seu sanctuario foi lançado por terra.

12E o exercito foi entregue por causa das transgressões contra o continuo sacrificio; e lançou a verdade por terra, e o fez, e prosperou.

13Depois ouvi um sancto que fallava; e disse o sancto áquelle que fallava: Até quando durará a visão do continuo sacrificio, e da transgressão assoladora, para que seja entregue o sanctuario, e o exercito, para ser pizado?

14E elle me disse: Até duas mil e trezentas tardes e manhãs; e o sanctuario será justificado.

15E aconteceu que, havendo eu, Daniel, visto a visão, busquei o entendimento, e eis que se me apresentou diante um com o parecer de homem.

16E ouvi uma voz de homem entre as margens do Ulai, a qual gritou, e disse: Gabriel, dá a entender a este a visão.

17E veiu perto d'onde eu estava; e, vindo elle, me assombrei, e cahi sobre o meu rosto; porém elle me disse: Entende, filho do homem, porque acontecerá esta visão no fim do tempo.

18E, estando elle fallando comigo, cahi adormecido sobre o meu rosto por terra: elle, pois, me tocou, e me fez estar em pé.

19E disse: Eis que te farei saber o que ha de acontecer no ultimo tempo da ira; porque no tempo determinado será o fim.

20Aquelle carneiro que viste com duas pontas são os reis da Media e da Persia,

21Porém o bode pelludo é o rei da Grecia; e a ponta grande que tinha entre os olhos é o rei primeiro;

22E que, sendo quebrada ella, se levantassem quatro em logar d'ella, significa que quatro reinos se levantarão da mesma nação, mas não com a força d'ella.

23Mas, no fim do seu reinado, quando os prevaricadores acabarem de prevaricar, se levantará um rei, feroz de cara, e será entendido em adivinhações.

24E se fortalecerá a sua força, mas não pela força d'elle mesmo; e destruirá maravilhosamente, e prosperará, e o seu prazer fará: e destruirá os fortes e o povo sancto.

25E pelo seu entendimento tambem fará prosperar o engano na sua mão; e no seu coração se engrandecerá, e pela tranquillidade destruirá muitos; e se levantará contra o principe dos principes, mas sem mão será quebrado

26E a visão da tarde e da manhã, que foi dita, é verdade: tu, porém, cerra a visão, porque é para muitos dias.

27E eu, Daniel, enfraqueci, e estive enfermo alguns dias; então levantei-me e fiz o negocio do rei: e espantei-me ácerca da visão, e não havia quem a entendesse.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Daniel sees a vision of a ram with two horns defeated by a goat with a notable horn, which then breaks and gives way to four smaller horns, out of which a little horn arises that attacks God's people and defiles the sanctuary.

Explanation

The angel Gabriel clearly explains that the ram represents the kings of Media and Persia, and the goat represents the king of Greece (v.20-21), an unusually specific identification for the Bible, one confirmed historically: the great horn is Alexander the Great, whose empire split into four parts after his premature death, exactly as described in the four subsequent horns. The 'little horn' that arises afterward is widely identified with Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a Seleucid king who would defile the Jerusalem temple in 167 B.C., setting up a pagan altar in the sanctuary — a historically documented event fulfilled about four centuries after this vision. The impressive precision of this prophecy, confirmed by later historical records, reinforces the reliability of prophetic revelation even regarding specific political details far removed in time.

Fun facts

  • Antiochus IV Epiphanes, identified by many scholars with the 'little horn' of this vision, did in fact defile the Jerusalem temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar, an event that sparked the Maccabean revolt, documented in the apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Maccabees.
  • This is one of the first biblical texts written partly in Hebrew after a section in Aramaic (chapters 2-7), suggesting a shift in focus: the Aramaic portion deals with world empires in general, while the Hebrew portion turns back to focus specifically on the people of Israel.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Daniel 8:1This vision of the ram and the goat takes place two years after the vision of the four beasts in chapter 7, still during Belshazzar’s reign, even before the events of the banquet narrated in chapter 5.
  2. Daniel 8:2Shushan lay in a region that would only later become one of the capitals of the Persian empire — Daniel finds himself there in the vision before this actually happened in real history, and the text does not explain how he recognized the place.
  3. Daniel 8:3The ram with two horns and the goat with one horn between its eyes receive a direct explanation within the chapter itself, in verses 20 and 21: they represent Media-Persia and Greece, one of the rare times Daniel interprets his own symbols without leaving any doubt.
  4. Daniel 8:4The three directions mentioned, west, north, and south, describe exactly the historical expansion routes of the Medo-Persian empire, which never conquered significant territory east of its own heartland.
  5. Daniel 8:5A goat that ‘touched not the ground’ is an image of extreme speed — the traditional reading links this figure to the swiftness with which Alexander the Great conquered the Persian empire.
  6. Daniel 8:6The direct clash between the goat and the ram represents, in the traditional historical reading, the military confrontation between Alexander’s Greece and the Persian empire he defeated.
  7. Daniel 8:7The ram’s total defeat, with no chance to fight back, visually depicts how quickly Persian power collapsed before the Greek military advance, according to the most widely accepted historical reading of this vision.
  8. Daniel 8:8The breaking of the ‘great horn’ at the height of the goat’s strength is generally linked to Alexander’s premature death, followed by his empire’s division among four of his generals.
  9. Daniel 8:9The ‘little horn’ that grows toward ‘the pleasant land’ and interrupts the continual sacrifice at the sanctuary is described with details that many readers, throughout history, have linked to a specific ruler of the Greek period who persecuted Jewish worship — but the text itself names no one.
  10. Daniel 8:10Attacking ‘the stars’ is an image of extreme arrogance, someone striking even at heaven itself — a poetic way of describing persecution against God’s people, here compared to heavenly bodies.
  11. Daniel 8:11Interrupting ‘the daily sacrifice,’ the daily offering at the temple in Jerusalem, is usually associated historically with the temple’s desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a second-century BC Seleucid king, though the text names no one.
  12. Daniel 8:12Saying that truth was ‘cast down to the ground’ describes a religious persecution that manages, for a time, to succeed — the vision does not hide the fact that evil can prosper temporarily.
  13. Daniel 8:13The question one heavenly being asks another, within the vision itself, is a literary device that lets the reader learn the crisis’s duration without Daniel having to ask directly.
  14. Daniel 8:14‘Two thousand and three hundred days’ is one of the most debated numbers in the entire book — different ways of counting lead to quite different results, and there is no unanimous reading of exactly what this period represents.
  15. Daniel 8:15Seeking the vision’s ‘meaning’ on his own before any explanation arrives shows Daniel first trying to work out alone what he was seeing, before he needed heavenly help.
  16. Daniel 8:16Gabriel is called by name here for the first time in the Bible — before this, heavenly messengers appear without a proper name; this marks a shift in how Jewish apocalyptic literature begins to name and individualize angelic figures.
  17. Daniel 8:17‘The time of the end’ here probably refers to the end of a historical period tied to the crisis described in the vision, not necessarily the end of the world in an absolute sense — the book uses this expression in varied ways.
  18. Daniel 8:18Falling into a deep sleep before a heavenly figure is a reaction repeated in other visions in the book of Daniel, suggesting the physical and emotional weight of encountering these beings, not just passing astonishment.
  19. Daniel 8:19‘The time appointed’ reinforces that the vision has a clear limit, even without revealing an exact date — the idea of a deadline fixed by God, not an endless mystery, appears several times in the book.
  20. Daniel 8:20The text itself confirms the interpretation: ‘the ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia’ and ‘the rough goat is the king of Grecia’ — one of the few cases in Daniel where the symbolism is explained without ambiguity within the chapter itself.
  21. Daniel 8:21Having already learned from verse 20 that the ram represents Media and Persia, here the explanation identifies the goat as Greece — the traditional reading links the great horn’s ‘first king’ to Alexander the Great.
  22. Daniel 8:22The division into four kingdoms ‘but not in his power’ describes what actually happened after Alexander’s death: his empire was split among rival generals, none of them as powerful as he had been.
  23. Daniel 8:23‘Understanding dark sentences’ describes someone cunning and calculating, more than a literal fortune-teller — the traditional identification links this figure to a ruler of the Hellenistic period following the division of the Greek empire.
  24. Daniel 8:24Saying his power comes ‘not by his own power’ suggests he acts as the instrument of a larger crisis, not as an independent, original force.
  25. Daniel 8:25Being ‘broken without hand’ repeats the same idea as the stone in chapter 2’s dream: a fall caused by direct divine intervention, not by a battle or human army winning in combat.
  26. Daniel 8:26Telling Daniel to ‘shut... up the vision’ means keeping it secret for now, not hiding it forever — the instruction implies it will only make full sense to a future generation.
  27. Daniel 8:27Falling physically ill after a vision, and still returning to his normal work at court, shows Daniel balancing his everyday professional life with the emotional weight of the revelations he received.

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