Daniel 8:20-21

8:20 The ram that you saw with the two horns stands for the kings of Media and Persia. 8:21 The male goat ¹  is the king of Greece, ²  and the large horn between its eyes is the first king.

Daniel 8:3

8:3 I looked up ³  and saw ⁴  a ⁵  ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long, ⁶  but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one.

Daniel 8:6

8:6 It came to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed against it with raging strength. ⁷ 

Daniel 8:8-9

8:8 The male goat acted even more arrogantly. But no sooner had the large horn become strong than it was broken, and there arose four conspicuous horns ⁸  in its place, ⁹  extending toward the four winds of the sky. ¹⁰ 

8:9 From one of them came a small horn. ¹¹  But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ¹² 

Daniel 8:5

8:5 While I was contemplating all this, ¹³  a male goat ¹⁴  was coming from the west over the surface of all the land ¹⁵  without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn ¹⁶  between its eyes.

Daniel 8:7

8:7 I saw it approaching the ram. It went into a fit of rage against the ram ¹⁷  and struck it ¹⁸  and broke off its two horns. The ram had no ability to resist it. ¹⁹  The goat hurled the ram ²⁰  to the ground and trampled it. No one could deliver the ram from its power. ²¹ 

¹ tn Heb “the he-goat, the buck.” The expression is odd, and the second word may be an explanatory gloss.

² tn Heb “Javan.”

¹ tn Heb “lifted my eyes.”

² tn Heb “and behold.”

³ tn Heb “one.” The Hebrew numerical adjective occasionally functions like an English indefinite article. See GKC 401 §125.b.

⁴ tn Heb “high” (also “higher” later in this verse).

¹ tn Heb “the wrath of its strength.”

¹ tn The word “horns” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

² sn The four conspicuous horns refer to Alexander’s successors. After his death, Alexander’s empire was divided up among four of his generals: Cassander, who took Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus, who took Thrace and parts of Asia Minor; Seleucus, who took Syria and territory to its east; and Ptolemy, who took control of Egypt.

³ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

¹ sn This small horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who controlled the Seleucid kingdom from ca. 175-164 B.C. Antiochus was extremely hostile toward the Jews and persecuted them mercilessly.

² sn The expression the beautiful land (Heb. הַצֶּבִי [hatsÿvi] = “the beauty”) is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel. Cf. 11:16, 41, where it is preceded by the word אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”).

¹ tn The words “all this” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

² tn Heb “and behold, a he-goat of the goats.”

³ tn Or “of the whole earth” (NAB, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

⁴ tn Heb “a horn of vision” [or “conspicuousness”], i.e., “a conspicuous horn,” one easily seen.

¹ tn Heb “him.”

² tn Heb “the ram.”

³ tn Heb “stand before him.”

⁴ tn Heb “he hurled him.” The referents of both pronouns (the male goat and the ram) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ sn The goat of Daniel’s vision represents Greece; the large horn represents Alexander the Great. The ram stands for Media-Persia. Alexander’s rapid conquest of the Persians involved three battles of major significance which he won against overwhelming odds: Granicus (334 B.C.), Isus (333 B.C.), and Gaugemela (331 B.C.).