Vision of the Four Beasts
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a adream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he bwrote the dream down and related the following summary of it. 2 Daniel said, “I was alooking in my vision by night, and behold, the bfour winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 And four great abeasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. 4 The first was alike a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. 5 And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’ 6 After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, alike a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had bfour heads, and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a afourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had bten horns. 8 While I was contemplating the horns, behold, aanother horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and ba mouth uttering great boasts.
The Ancient of Days Reigns
9 “I kept looking
Until athrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days took His seat;
His bvesture was like white snow
And the chair of His head like pure wool.
His dthrone was ablaze with flames,
Its ewheels were a burning fire.
10 “A river of afire was flowing
And coming out from before Him;
bThousands upon thousands were attending Him,
And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him;
The ccourt sat,
And dthe books were opened.
11 Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the aburning fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.
The Son of Man Presented
13 “I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a aSon of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 “And to Him was given adominion,
Glory and ba kingdom,
cThat all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
dHis dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
eAnd His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.
The Vision Interpreted
15 “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the avisions in my mind kept balarming me. 16 I approached one of those who were astanding by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he btold me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: 17 ‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. 18 But the asaints of the Highest One will breceive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.’
19 “Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the afourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, 20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. 21 I kept looking, and that horn was awaging war with the saints and overpowering them 22 until the Ancient of Days came and ajudgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.
23 “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24 As for the aten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25 He will aspeak out against the bMost High and cwear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make dalterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a etime, times, and half a time. 26 But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be ataken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 27 Then the asovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an beverlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will cserve and obey Him.’
28 “At this point the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were agreatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I bkept the matter to myself.”
Vision of the Ram and Goat
In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously. 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 lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a aram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. 4 I saw the ram abutting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but bhe did as he pleased and magnified himself.
5 While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a aconspicuous 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 I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered 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 none to rescue the ram from his power. 8 Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as ahe was mighty, the blarge horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the cfour winds of heaven.
The Little Horn
9 Out of one of them came forth a rather asmall horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the bBeautiful Land. 10 It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the astars to fall to the earth, and it btrampled them down. 11 It even amagnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the bregular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. 12 And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will afling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper. 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, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be ctrampled?” 14 He said to me, “For a2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.”
Interpretation of the Vision
15 When aI, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one who 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, give this man an understanding of the vision.” 17 So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened and afell on my face; but 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 asank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he btouched me and made me stand upright. 19 He said, “Behold, I am going to alet you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.
The Ram’s Identity
20 The aram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.
The Goat
21 The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king. 22 The abroken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power.
23 “In the latter period of their rule,
When the transgressors have run their course,
A king will arise,
Insolent and skilled in intrigue.
24 “His power will be mighty, but not by his own power,
And he will adestroy to an extraordinary degree
And prosper and perform his will;
He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.
25 “And through his shrewdness
He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence;
And he will magnify himself in his heart,
And he will destroy many while they are at ease.
He will even aoppose the Prince of princes,
But he will be broken bwithout human agency.
26 “The vision of the evenings and mornings
Which has been told is atrue;
But bkeep the vision secret,
For it pertains to many cdays in the future.”
27 Then I, Daniel, was aexhausted and sick for days. Then I got up again and bcarried on the king’s business; but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.
Daniel’s Prayer for His People
In the first year of aDarius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to aJeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, aseventy years. 3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the agreat and awesome God, who bkeeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5 awe have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and brebelled, even cturning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. 6 Moreover, we have not alistened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.
7 “aRighteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us bopen shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in call the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. 8 Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong acompassion and forgiveness, for we have brebelled against Him; 10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He aset before us through His servants the prophets. 11 Indeed aall Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the bcurse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. 12 Thus He has aconfirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our brulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has cnot been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. 13 As it is written in the alaw of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have bnot sought the favor of the Lord our God by cturning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has akept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is brighteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
15 “And now, O Lord our God, who have abrought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have bmade a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked. 16 O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your aanger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your bholy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a creproach to all those around us. 17 So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, alet Your face shine on Your bdesolate sanctuary. 18 O my God, aincline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and bsee our desolations and the city which is ccalled by Your name; for we are not dpresenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, ado not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
Gabriel Brings an Answer
20 Now while I was aspeaking and praying, and bconfessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, 21 while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man aGabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the bevening offering. 22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with aunderstanding. 23 At the abeginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are bhighly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain cunderstanding of the vision.
Seventy Weeks and the Messiah
24 “Seventy aweeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to bmake atonement for iniquity, to bring in ceverlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a adecree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until bMessiah the cPrince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be acut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will bdestroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a cflood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of aabominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a bcomplete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
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