Daniel 8:6
in Daniel 8He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with furious power.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran upon him in the fury of his power.
KJV
And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.
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This verse in Daniel 8
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd he came to the ram - This and the following verse give an account of the overthrow of the Persian empire by Alexander. And ran unto him in the fury of his power - The conflicts between the Greeks and the Persians were excessively severe. Alexander first vanquished the generals of Darius, at the river Granicus, in Phrygia; he next attacked and totally routed Darius, at the straits of Issus, in Cilicia; and afterwards at the plains of Arbela, in Assyria.
This site's exposition
an he goat came from the west
on Daniel 8:5-8
The he goat comes from the west and touches not the ground, the commentators reading the speed of Alexander's campaign into the picture itself, a conqueror who crossed from Greece to India in roughly a decade. The notable horn between his eyes is Alexander himself, and his fury against the ram pictures the destruction of the Persian empire, the two horns broken and the ram trampled with none to deliver it. When the great horn is broken at the height of his own strength, in plain history the sudden death of Alexander at thirty-two, four horns rise toward the four winds in his place, the four generals among whom the empire is divided, none of them his own sons.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
But the male goat who comes from the south, he says is Alexander the Macedonian king of the Greeks. And so when the goat comes to the ram and savages him and beats him on his face and shatters and hurls him to the earth and tramples him, it signals this, which also happened. For Alexander having engaged war with Darius, overpowered him and prevailed over all his power destroying and trampling his camp.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The interpretation of this vision by an angel, showing that the ram signified the Persian empire, the he-goat the Grecian, and the little horn a king of the Grecian monarchy, that should set himself against the Jews and religion, which was Antiochus Epiphanes,
Alexander with his victorious army attacked the kingdom of Persia, an army consisting of no more than 30,000 foot and 5000 horse. He ran unto him, to surprise him ere he could get intelligence of his motions, in the fury of his power.
And he came to the ram that had two horns,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And he came to the ram ... - Representing the Medo-Persian power. And ran unto him in the fury of his power - Representing the fierceness and fury with which Alexander attacked the Persians at the Granicus, at Issus, and at Arbela, with which he invaded and overthrew them in their own country. Nothing would better express this than to say that it was done in “the fury of power.”
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיָּבֹ֗א | vaiyavo' | and it came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | to | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| הָאַ֙יִל֙ | haayil | the ram | H352 → | 187 times |
| בַּ֣עַל | baal | [the] possessor of | H1167 → | |
| הַקְּרָנַ֔יִם | hakeranayim | the two horns | H7161 → | 76 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| רָאִ֔יתִי | raiti | I had seen | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| עֹמֵ֖ד | ʾomed | standing | H5975 → | 521 times |
| לִפְנֵ֣י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| הָאֻבָ֑ל | hauval | the canal | H180 → | 3 times |
| וַיָּ֥רָץ | vaiyarotz | and it ran | H7323 → | |
| אֵלָ֖יו | ʾelav | against it | H413 → | 5510 times |
| בַּחֲמַ֥ת | bachamat | in [the] rage of | H2534 → | 125 times |
| כֹּחֽוֹ׃ | kocho | strength its | H3581 → | 126 times |
וַיָּבֹ֗אand it came
vaiyavo'H935 →2568 times
עַד־to
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
הָאַ֙יִל֙the ram
haayilH352 →187 times
בַּ֣עַל[the] possessor of
baalH1167 →
הַקְּרָנַ֔יִםthe two horns
hakeranayimH7161 →76 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
רָאִ֔יתִיI had seen
raitiH7200 →1300 times
עֹמֵ֖דstanding
ʾomedH5975 →521 times
לִפְנֵ֣י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
הָאֻבָ֑לthe canal
hauvalH180 →3 times
וַיָּ֥רָץand it ran
vaiyarotzH7323 →
אֵלָ֖יוagainst it
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
בַּחֲמַ֥תin [the] rage of
bachamatH2534 →125 times
כֹּחֽוֹ׃strength its
kochoH3581 →126 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies7
About Daniel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel; Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 4.26.3-4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.