Daniel 8:7

8:7 I saw it approaching the ram. It went into a fit of rage against the ram ¹  and struck it ²  and broke off its two horns. The ram had no ability to resist it. ³  The goat hurled the ram ⁴  to the ground and trampled it. No one could deliver the ram from its power. ⁵ 

Daniel 8:20

8:20 The ram that you saw with the two horns stands for the kings of Media and Persia.

Daniel 8:4

8:4 I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal ⁶  was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power. ⁷  It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly. ⁸ 

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. ⁹ 

Daniel 8:3

8:3 I looked up ¹⁰  and saw ¹¹  a ¹²  ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long, ¹³  but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one.

[8:7]  ¹ tn Heb “him.”

[8:7]  ² tn Heb “the ram.”

[8:7]  ³ tn Heb “stand before him.”

[8:7]  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.

[8:7]  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.).

[8:4]  ⁶ tn Or “beast” (NAB).

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

[8:4]  ⁸ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the wrath of its strength.”

[8:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lifted my eyes.”

[8:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and behold.”

[8:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “one.” The Hebrew numerical adjective occasionally functions like an English indefinite article. See GKC 401 §125.b.

[8:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “high” (also “higher” later in this verse).