I, Daniel, was very alarmed by my thoughts, and my face darkened; and I could not put the matter out of my mind.
8 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me earlier. 2I saw in the vision—at the time I saw it I was in the fortress of Shushan, in the province of Elam—I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai River. 3I looked and saw a ram standing between me and the river; he had two horns; the horns were high, with one higher than the other, and the higher sprouting last. 4I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward. No beast could withstand him, and there was none to deliver from his power. He did as he pleased and grew great. 5As I looked on, a he-goat came from the west, passing over the entire earth without touching the ground. The goat had a conspicuous horn on its forehead. 6He came up to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing between me and the river and charged at him with furious force. 7I saw him reach the ram and rage at him; he struck the ram and broke its two horns, and the ram was powerless to withstand him. He threw him to the ground and trampled him, and there was none to deliver the ram from his power. 8Then the he-goat grew very great, but at the peak of his power his big horn was broken. In its place, four conspicuous horns sprouted toward the four winds of heaven. 9From one of them emerged a small horn, which extended itself greatly toward the south, toward the east, and toward the beautiful land. 10It grew as high as the host of heaven and it hurled some stars of the [heavenly] host to the ground and trampled them. 11It vaunted itself against the very chief of the host; on its account the regular offering was suspended, and His holy place was abandoned. 12a-An army was arrayed iniquitously against the regular offering;-a it hurled truth to the ground and prospered in what it did.
13Then I heard a holy being speaking, and another holy being said to whoever it was who was speaking, “How long will [what was seen in] the vision last—a-the regular offering be forsaken because of transgression; the sanctuary be surrendered and the [heavenly] host be trampled?”-a 14He answered me,b “For twenty-three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.” 15While I, Daniel, was seeing the vision, and trying to understand it, there appeared before me one who looked like a man. 16I heard a human voice from the middle of Ulai calling out, “Gabriel, make that man understand the vision.” 17He came near to where I was standing, and as he came I was terrified, and fell prostrate. He said to me, “Understand, O man, that the vision refers to the time of the end.” 18When he spoke with me, I was overcome by a deep sleep as I lay prostrate on the ground. Then he touched me and made me stand up, 19and said, “I am going to inform you of what will happen when wrath is at an end, for [it refers] to the time appointed for the end.
20“The two-horned ram that you saw [signifies] the kings of Media and Persia; 21and the buck, the he-goat—the king of Greece; and the large horn on his forehead, that is the first king. 22One was broken and four came in its stead—that [means]: four kingdoms will arise out of a nation, but without its power. 23When their kingdoms are at an end, when the measure of transgressionc has been filled, then a king will arise, impudent and versed in intrigue. 24He will have great strength, but not through his own strength. He will be extraordinarily destructive; he will prosper in what he does, and destroy the mighty and the people of holy ones. 25By his cunning, he will use deceit successfully. He will make great plans, will destroy many, taking them unawares, and will rise up against the chief of chiefs, but will be broken, not by [human] hands. 26What was said in the vision about evenings and mornings is true. Now you keep the vision a secret, for it pertains to far-off days.” 27So I, Daniel, was stricken,a and languished many days. Then I arose and attended to the king’s business, but I was dismayed by the vision and no one could explain it.
9 In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—2in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, consulted the books concerning the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD that had come to Jeremiah the prophet, were to be the term of Jerusalem’s desolation—seventy years. 3I turned my face to the Lord God, devoting myself to prayer and supplication, in fasting, in sackcloth and ashes. 4I prayed to the LORD my God, making confession thus: “O Lord, great and awesome God, who stays faithful to His covenant with those who love Him and keep His commandments! 5We have sinned; we have gone astray; we have acted wickedly; we have been rebellious and have deviated from Your commandments and Your rules, 6and have not obeyed Your servants the prophets who spoke in Your name to our kings, our officers, our fathers, and all the people of the land. 7With You, O Lord, is the right, and the shame is on us to this very day, on the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all Israel, near and far, in all the lands where You have banished them, for the trespass they committed against You. 8The shame, O LORD, is on us, on our kings, our officers, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we rebelled against Him, 10and did not obey the LORD our God by following His teachings that He set before us through His servants the prophets. 11All Israel has violated Your teaching and gone astray, disobeying You; so the curse and the oath written in the Teaching of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down upon us, for we have sinned against Him. 12He carried out the threat that He made against us, and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring upon us great misfortune; under the whole heaven there has never been done the like of what was done to Jerusalem. 13All that calamity, just as is written in the Teaching of Moses, came upon us, yet we did not supplicate the LORD our God, did not repent of our iniquity or become wise through Your truth. 14Hence the LORD was intent upon bringing calamity upon us, for the LORD our God is in the right in all that He has done, but we have not obeyed Him.
15“Now, O Lord our God—You who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, winning fame for Yourself to this very day—we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. 16O Lord, as befits Your abundant benevolence, let Your wrathful fury turn back from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a mockery among all who are around us.
17“O our God, hear now the prayer of Your servant and his plea, and show Your favor to Your desolate sanctuary, for the Lord’s sake. 18Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolation and the city to which Your name is attached. Not because of any merit of ours do we lay our plea before You but because of Your abundant mercies. 19O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen, and act without delay for Your own sake, O my God; for Your name is attached to Your city and Your people!”
20While I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and laying my supplication before the
