¹ In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me previously.

² And I saw in the vision, and when I looked, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai.

³ Then I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns. And the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up last.

⁴ I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; and no animals could stand before him, neither was there any who could deliver out of his hand. But he did according to his will, and became great.

⁵ As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west over the surface of the whole earth, and did not touch the ground. And the goat had a prominent horn between his eyes.

⁶ He came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and rushed at him in the fury of his power.

⁷ I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and struck the ram, and broke his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he threw him down to the ground and trampled on him, and there was no one who could deliver the ram from his power.

⁸ The male goat became very strong. But when he was strong, the large horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four prominent horns toward the four winds of heaven.

⁹ Out of one of them came forth a little horn, which grew exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beautiful land.

¹⁰ It grew so great that it reached to the host of heaven, and some of the host and of the stars it cast down to the ground, and trampled on them.

¹¹ And it magnified itself, even against the Prince of the host; and it took away from him the daily sacrifice, and the place of his sanctuary was thrown down.

¹² The host was given over to it together with the daily sacrifice because of transgression. And it cast down truth to the ground, and kept prospering.

¹³ Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, "How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled?"

¹⁴ He said to me, "To two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be restored to its rightful state."

¹⁵ It came about when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me someone who appeared to be a man.

¹⁶ I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, and called out and said, "Gabriel, make this man understand the vision."

¹⁷ So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was frightened, and fell prostrate. But he said to me, "Understand, son of man, that the vision belongs to the time of the end."

¹⁸ Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and stood me upright.

¹⁹ He said, "Behold, I will make you know what shall be in the latter time of wrath, for it belongs to the appointed time of the end.

²⁰ The ram which you saw, that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia.

²¹ The male goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

²² As for that which was broken, in the place where four stood up, four kingdoms shall arise out of his nation, but not with his power.

²³ In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their full measure, a rash and deceitful king shall arise.

²⁴ His power shall be great, but not by his own strength; and he shall cause terrible destruction, and shall succeed in whatever he does. And he shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

²⁵ Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper by his influence, and he shall be great in his own mind, and without warning he shall destroy many. He shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be shattered, but not by human hands.

²⁶ The vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true; but seal up the vision because it refers to many days from now."

²⁷ I, Daniel, was overcome, and was ill for days. Then I rose up, and carried out the king's business. And I was astonished by the vision, but there was no one to explain it.