Gabriel Interprets Daniel’s Vision
While Daniel is trying to understand the vision, a manlike figure appears, and a voice commands Gabriel to explain it. Daniel is terrified and falls facedown, then collapses into a deep sleep until Gabriel touches him and helps him stand. Gabriel frames the explanation by saying the vision concerns the latter time of wrath and the appointed time of the end, signaling that the interpretation belongs to God's own schedule rather than to human guesswork.
W15hile I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. 16And I heard the voice of a man calling from between the banks of the Ulai: “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.” 17As he came near to where I stood, I was terrified and fell facedown. 18While he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. 19Then he touched me, helped me to my feet, and said, “Behold, I will make known to you what will happen in the latter time of wrath, because it concerns the appointed time of the end.
Gabriel identifies the two-horned ram as the kings of Media and Persia and the shaggy goat as the king of Greece, with the large horn representing the first king. The four horns that replace the broken one signify four kingdoms arising from that nation but lacking the same power. The interpretation makes clear that the strange imagery corresponds to real kingdoms, yet their historical sequence remains fully transparent to heaven.
20The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. 21The shaggy goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. 22The four horns that replaced the broken one represent four kingdoms that will rise from that nation but will not have the same power.
Gabriel says that in the latter part of those kingdoms an insolent king skilled in intrigue will arise when rebellion has reached its full measure. His power will be great though not self-derived; he will devastate the mighty and the holy people, make deceit prosper, exalt himself inwardly, and even stand against the Prince of princes, yet he will be broken without human hands. Gabriel affirms that the vision of the evenings and mornings is true and must be sealed because it concerns a distant future, underscoring both its certainty and its long-range significance.
23In the latter part of their reign, when the rebellion has reached its full measure, an insolent king, skilled in intrigue, will come to the throne. 24His power will be great, but it will not be his own. He will cause terrible destruction and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men along with the holy people. 25Through his craft and by his hand, he will cause deceit to prosper, and in his own mind he will make himself great. In a time of peace he will destroy many, and he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken off, but not by human hands. 26The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been spoken is true. Now you must seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.”
Daniel ends the chapter exhausted and sick for days before returning to the king's business, still confounded because the vision lies beyond full understanding. The revelation is not casual information but a burden that leaves the prophet physically and mentally shaken. The chapter therefore closes with the weight of a true vision whose implications are real even before they are fully understood.
27I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was confounded by the vision; it was beyond understanding.