Chapter 8

  In the third year of the reign of king Baltasar, a vision appeared to me. I Daniel, after what I had seen in the beginning,  

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  Saw in my vision when I was in the castle of Susa, which is in the province of Elam: and I saw in the vision that I was over the gate of Ulai.  

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  And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold a ram stood before the water, having two high horns, and one higher than the other, and growing up. Afterward  

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  I saw the ram pushing with his horns against the west, and against the north, and against the south: and no beasts could withstand him, nor be delivered out of his hand: and he did according to his own will, and became great.  

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  And I understood: and behold a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and he touched not the ground, and the he goat had a notable horn between his eyes.  

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  And he went up to the ram that had the horns, which I had seen standing before the gate, and he ran towards him in the force of his strength.  

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  And when he was come near the ram, he was enraged against him, and struck the ram: and broke his two horns, and the ram could not withstand him: and when he had cast him down on the ground, he stamped upon him, and none could deliver the ram out of his hand.  

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  And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards the four winds of heaven.  

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  And out of one of them came forth a little horn: and it became great against the south, and against the east, and against the strength.  

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  And it was magnified even unto the strength of heaven: and it threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them.  

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  And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength: and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of his sanctuary.  

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  And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice, because of sins: and truth shall be cast down on the ground, and he shall do and shall prosper.  

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  And I heard one of the saints speaking, and one saint said to another, I know not to whom that was speaking: How long shall be the vision, concerning the continual sacrifice, and the sin of the desolation that is made: and the sanctuary, and the strength be trodden under foot?  

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  And he said to him: Unto evening and morning two thousand three hundred days: and the sanctuary shall be cleansed.  

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  And it came to pass when I Daniel saw the vision, and sought the meaning, that behold there stood before me as it were the appearance of a man.  

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  And I heard the voice of a man between Ulai: and he called, and said: Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.  

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  And he came and stood near where I stood: and when he was come, I fell on my face trembling, and he said to me: Understand, O son of man, for in the time of the end the vision shall be fulfilled.  

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  And when he spoke to me I fell flat on the ground: and he touched me, and set me upright,  

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  And he said to me: I will shew thee what things are to come to pass in the end of the malediction: for the time hath its end.  

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  The ram, which thou sawest with horns, is the king of the Medes and Persians.  

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  And the he goat, is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn that was between his eyes, the same is the first king.  

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  But whereas when that was broken, there arose up four for it: four kings shall rise up of his nation, but not with his strength.  

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  And after their reign, when iniquities shall be grown up, there shall arise a king of a shameless face, and understanding dark sentences.  

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  And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his own force: and he shall lay all things waste, and shall prosper, and do more than can be believed. And he shall destroy the mighty, and the people of the saints,  

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  According to his will, and craft shall be successful in his hand: and his heart shall be puffed up, and in the abundance of all things he shall kill many: and he shall rise up against the prince of princes, and shall be broken without hand.  

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  And the vision of the evening and the morning, which was told, is true: thou therefore seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days.  

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  And I Daniel languished, and was sick for some days: and when I was risen up, I did the king's business, and I was astonished at the vision, and there was none that could interpret it.  

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