The sheep ram and goat-ram
1In the 3rd year after Belshazzar had become king, God showed me, Daniel, another vision. 2In my vision I was in the city of Susa in the province of Elam, a city that had strong walls, and I was at the Ulai River. 3I saw a sheep ram standing near the river and the sheep ram had 2 horns. One horn was longer than the other horn. The short horn started to grow first and then the long horn started to grow. 4I saw the sheep ram chasing other animals with its horns. It ran to the west, to the north and to the south. No other animal could stop the ram, and no one could save the other animals. That ram did what it wanted to do and it became big and strong.
5I looked and there was a goat-ram coming from the west. It ran very quickly over all the lands. It ran so fast that its feet did not touch the ground. Between its eyes was a long horn. 6The goat-ram came to the sheep ram with 2 horns that I had seen at the river. The goat-ram ran to the sheep ram as fast as it could. 7I saw the goat-ram attacking the sheep ram and it broke off the 2 horns of the sheep ram. The sheep ram could not stand against the goat-ram and it fell to the ground and the goat-ram trampled it. No one could stop the goat-ram.
8The goat-ram became very strong, but then its big horn broke off. There were 4 long horns that came out at the place where the big horn had been, one horn to the east, one to the south, one to the west and one to the north. 9Out of one of these horns another horn started to grow. This horn was small, but it became bigger to the south and to the west and to the Beautiful_Land. 10The horn became so strong that it tried to attack the people of God. The horn killed some of them. They fell to the ground and the horn trampled them. 11The horn thought it was more important than God, the Leader of the soldiers from heaven. The horn told the priests to stop bringing offerings to God every day and it destroyed the holy temple of God. 12It told the priests not to sacrifice the offerings that God asked. They had to sacrifice other offerings. The horn did what it wanted to do.
13I, Daniel, heard a holy angel talking to another holy angel, asking him: ‘How long will these things that Daniel has seen go on? When will the people again start to sacrifice_offerings every day? When will they stop rebelling and stop this very bad sin? How long will they make the holy temple impure? How long will they trample the people of God?’
14The angel said to me: ‘It will keep on for 2 300 nights and mornings. Then the people will start using the holy temple again.’
15I, Daniel, wanted to know what these things that I had seen meant. Suddenly there was someone standing in front of me. He looked like a man. 16I heard someone talking from the Ulai River. He said: ‘Gabriel, you must help Daniel to understand what he has seen in his vision.’
17Gabriel came to me where I was standing. I became afraid and I bowed down with my face to the ground. He said to me: ‘Man, you must know that the things you have seen are to show you what will happen later.’
18I, Daniel, bowed down with my face to the ground while Gabriel talked to me. I fainted but he touched me and helped me to stand up.
19Gabriel said to me: ‘I will now explain what you have seen and what will happen when God is not angry with his people anymore. 20The sheep ram with the 2 horns that you saw are the kings of Media and Persia. 21And the goat-ram with long hair is the king of Greece. The big horn that was between his eyes was the first king. 22The big horn broke off and 4 horns started to grow in the place where that horn had been. The 4 horns are 4 kings. They will not be very strong.
23When they do not rule anymore and the people have done a lot of bad things, then a king will come who will be very cruel and cunning. 24He will be very strong because it is God who will make him strong. He will destroy a lot of things and he will do what he wants. He will destroy powerful leaders and kill a lot of the holy people of God. 25He will do what he wants because he is very cunning. He will become very proud and will kill a lot of people. No one will be able to stop him. He will be an enemy of God, the King of kings. But when the right time comes, God will destroy him.
26Everything that you saw about the mornings and nights will happen. Don't tell this to other people now.’
27I, Daniel, became sick and I was sick for a long time. After that I got up and started working for the king again, but I was shocked by what I had seen. I could not understand it.
