Daniel 8:4

8:4 I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal ¹  was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power. ²  It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly. ³ 

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. ⁴ 

Daniel 9:21

9:21 yes, while I was still praying, ⁵  the man Gabriel, whom I had seen previously ⁶  in a vision, was approaching me in my state of extreme weariness, ⁷  around the time of the evening offering.

[8:4]  ¹ tn Or “beast” (NAB).

[8:4]  ² tn Heb “hand.” So also in v. 7.

[8:4]  ³ 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.

[8:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “the wrath of its strength.”

[9:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “speaking in prayer.”

[9:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the beginning.”

[9:21]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew expression בִּיעָף מֻעָף (mu’af bi’af) is very difficult. The issue is whether the verb derives from עוּף (’uf, “to fly”) or from יָעַף (ya’af, “to be weary”). Many ancient versions and modern commentators take the first of these possibilities and understand the reference to be to the swift flight of the angel Gabriel in his coming to Daniel. The words more likely refer to the extreme weariness, not of the angel, but of Daniel. Cf. 7:28; 8:27; 10:8-9, 16-17; also NASB.