Daniel 8:10

8:10 It grew so big it reached the army ¹  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ²  to the ground, where it trampled them.

Daniel 8:7

8:7 I saw it approaching the ram. It went into a fit of rage against the ram ³  and struck it ⁴  and broke off its two horns. The ram had no ability to resist it. ⁵  The goat hurled the ram ⁶  to the ground and trampled it. No one could deliver the ram from its power. ⁷ 

[8:10]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “host.” The term refers to God’s heavenly angelic assembly, which he sometimes leads into battle as an army.

[8:10]  ² sn In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Isa 40:26. In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13).

[8:7]  ³ tn Heb “him.”

[8:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “the ram.”

[8:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “stand before him.”

[8:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “he hurled him.” The referents of both pronouns (the male goat and the ram) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:7]  ⁷ 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.).