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I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal[a] was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power.[b] It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly.[c]

While I was contemplating all this,[d] a male goat[e] was coming from the west over the surface of all the land[f] without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn[g] between its eyes. It came to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed against it with raging strength.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Daniel 8:4 tn Or “beast” (NAB).
  2. Daniel 8:4 tn Heb “hand,” as also in v. 7.
  3. Daniel 8:4 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 and 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.
  4. Daniel 8:5 tn The words “all this” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
  5. Daniel 8:5 tn Heb “and behold, a he-goat of the goats.”
  6. Daniel 8:5 tn Or “of the whole earth” (NAB, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
  7. Daniel 8:5 tn Heb “a horn of vision” [or “conspicuousness”], i.e., “a conspicuous horn,” one easily seen.
  8. Daniel 8:6 tn Heb “the wrath of its strength.”

I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power.(A) It did as it pleased(B) and became great.

As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. It came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at it in great rage.

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