Daniel’s Vision of the Ram and the Goat

In Belshazzar's third year Daniel sees another vision, locating himself in the citadel of Susa beside the Ulai Canal. There he beholds a ram with two horns, one longer and arising later, charging in multiple directions so that no creature can stand before it or deliver from its power. The opening image presents a kingdom of expanding dominance that seems unstoppable in its strength.

I¹n the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one that had appeared to me earlier. ²And in the vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa, in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal. ³Then I lifted up my eyes and saw a ram with two horns standing beside the canal. The horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one grew up later. ⁴I saw the ram charging toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and there was no deliverance from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.

As Daniel watches, a goat with a prominent horn races in from the west with astonishing speed, seemingly skimming the earth without touching it. In furious power it strikes the ram, shatters its horns, tramples it, and becomes very great, yet at the height of that greatness its large horn is broken and replaced by four prominent horns toward the four winds of heaven. The sequence shows how rapidly one empire can overthrow another, even while carrying within itself the seeds of fragmentation.

⁵As I was contemplating all this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came out of the west, crossing the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground. ⁶He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with furious power. ⁷I saw him approach the ram in a rage against him, and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him, and the goat threw him to the ground and trampled him, and no one could deliver the ram from his power. ⁸Thus the goat became very great, but at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off, and four prominent horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of heaven.

From one of the four horns arises a little horn that grows extensively toward the south, east, and the Beautiful Land. Its ambition reaches beyond earthbound conquest, as it casts down part of the host of heaven, magnifies itself even against the Prince of the host, removes the daily sacrifice, overthrows the sanctuary, and flings truth to the ground while prospering in rebellion. This ruler is portrayed not merely as politically aggressive but as sacrilegious and truth-despising in his assault on God's ordered worship.

⁹From one of these horns a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the Beautiful Land. ¹⁰It grew as high as the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the earth and trampled them. ¹¹It magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host; it removed His daily sacrifice and overthrew the place of His sanctuary. ¹²And in the rebellion, the host and the daily sacrifice were given over to the horn, and it flung truth to the ground and prospered in whatever it did.

Daniel then hears holy beings discuss how long the trampling of sanctuary and host, the desolating rebellion, and the interruption of sacrifice will continue. The answer is given in a measured period of 2,300 evenings and mornings, after which the sanctuary will be properly restored. The horror of desecration is therefore real, but it is neither indefinite nor outside heaven's accounting.

¹³Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long until the fulfillment of the vision of the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host to be trampled?” ¹⁴He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be properly restored.”