Daniel 8:3-20

3I looked up and saw a single ram standing beside the gate. The ram had two long horns, one longer than the other, though the longer one had grown up later.

4I saw the ram charging west, north, and south. No other animal could stand in front of it, and no one could escape from its power. It did anything it pleased and continued to grow.

5As I was watching closely, I saw a male goat coming from the west. It crossed the whole earth without touching it. This goat had a prominent horn between its eyes.

6The goat was coming toward the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the gate. It furiously ran at the ram.

7I saw it come closer to the ram. The goat was extremely angry with the ram, so it attacked the ram. It broke both of the ram’s horns. The ram didn’t have the strength to stand up against the goat. So the ram was thrown down on the ground and trampled. No one could rescue the ram from the goat’s power.

8The male goat became very important. But when the goat became powerful, his large horn broke off. In its place grew four horns. They corresponded to the four winds of heaven.

9Out of one of the horns came a small horn. It gained power over the south, the east, and the beautiful land.

10It continued to gain power until it reached the army of heaven. It threw some of the army of heaven, the stars, down on the ground and trampled them.

11Then it attacked the commander of the army so that it took the daily burnt offering from him and wrecked his holy place.

12In its rebelliousness it was given an army to put a stop to the daily burnt offering. It threw truth on the ground. The horn was successful in everything it did.

13Then I heard a holy one speaking. Another holy one said to the one who was speaking, “How long will the things in this vision—the daily burnt offering, the destructive rebellion, the surrender of the holy place, and the trampling of the army—take place?”

14He told me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the holy place will be made acceptable to God.”

15Now as I, Daniel, watched the vision and tried to understand it, I saw someone who looked like a man standing in front of me.

16I heard a man in Ulai ⌞Gate⌟ call loudly, “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.”

17Gabriel came up beside me, and when he came, I was terrified and immediately knelt down. He said to me, “Son of man, understand that the vision is about the end times.”

18As he spoke to me, I fainted facedown on the ground, but he touched me and made me stand up.

19He said, “I will tell you what will happen in the last days, ⌞the time of God’s⌟ anger, because the end time has been determined.

20“The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kingdoms of Media and Persia.