In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me, ¹Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me ²previously. 2 I ^alooked in the vision, and while I was looking, I was in the citadel of ^bSusa, which is in the province of ^cElam; and I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal. 3 Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a ^aram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were ¹long, but one was ²longer than the other, with the ³longer one coming up last. 4 I saw the ram ^abutting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand against him nor was there anyone to rescue from his ¹power, but ^bhe did as he pleased and made himself great.

5 While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a ^aprominent horn between his eyes. 6 He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath. 7 And I saw him come up beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and smashed his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was no one to rescue the ram from his ¹power. 8 Then the male goat made himself exceedingly great. But once ^ahe became powerful, the ^blarge horn was broken; and in its place four prominent horns came up toward the ^cfour winds of heaven.

9 And out of one of them came a rather ^asmall horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the ^1bBeautiful Land. 10 It grew up to the heavenly ¹lights, and some of the ²lights, ³that is, some of the ^astars it threw down to the earth, and it ^btrampled them. 11 It even ^aexalted itself ¹to be equal with the ²Commander of the army; and it removed the ^bregular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was overthrown. 12 And because of ¹an offense the army will be given to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will ^ahurl truth to the ground and do as it pleases and be successful. 13 Then I heard a ^aholy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, “^bHow long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, ¹while the offense causes horror, so as to allow both the sanctuary and the army ²to be ^ctrampled?” 14 And he said to me, “For ^a2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be ¹properly restored.”

15 When ^aI, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought ¹to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one ²who looked like a ^bman. 16 And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, “^aGabriel, explain the vision to this man.” 17 So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened and ^afell on my face; and he said to me, “Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the ^btime of the end.”

18 Now while he was talking with me, I was ^adazed with my face to the ground; but he ^btouched me and made me stand at my place. 19 And he said, “Behold, I am going to ^ainform you of what will occur at the final period of the indignation, because it pertains to the appointed time of the end.

20 The ^aram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.

21 The shaggy ¹goat represents the ²kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king. 22 The ^abroken horn and the four horns that came up in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power.

27 Then I, Daniel, was ^1aexhausted and sick for days. Then I got up and ^bcarried on the king’s business; but I was astounded at the vision, and there was no one to explain it.