Daniel 8:4-5

8:4 I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal ¹  was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power. ²  It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly. ³ 

8:5 While I was contemplating all this, ⁴  a male goat ⁵  was coming from the west over the surface of all the land ⁶  without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn ⁷  between its eyes.

[8:4]  ¹ tn Or “beast” (NAB).

[8:4]  ² tn Heb “hand.” So also in v. 7.

[8:4]  ³ tn In the Hiphil the Hebrew verb גָּדַל (gadal, “to make great; to magnify”) can have either a positive or a negative sense. For the former, used especially of God, see Ps 126:2, 3; Joel 2:21. In this chapter (8:4, 8, 11, 25) the word has a pejorative sense, describing the self-glorification of this king. The sense seems to be that of vainly assuming one’s own superiority through deliberate hubris.

[8:5]  ⁴ tn The words “all this” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[8:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and behold, a he-goat of the goats.”

[8:5]  ⁶ tn Or “of the whole earth” (NAB, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[8:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “a horn of vision” [or “conspicuousness”], i.e., “a conspicuous horn,” one easily seen.