Daniel 8:3-4

8:3 I looked up ¹  and saw ²  a ³  ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long, ⁴  but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one. 8:4 I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal ⁵  was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power. ⁶  It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly. ⁷ 

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).

⁵ tn Or “beast” (NAB).

⁶ tn Heb “hand.” So also in v. 7.

⁷ tn In the Hiphil the Hebrew verb גָּדַל (gadal, “to make great; to magnify”) can have either a positive or a negative sense. For the former, used especially of God, see Ps 126:2, 3; Joel 2:21. In this chapter (8:4, 8, 11, 25) the word has a pejorative sense, describing the self-glorification of this king. The sense seems to be that of vainly assuming one’s own superiority through deliberate hubris.