Daniel 7:4

7:4 “The first one was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was lifted up from the ground. It was made to stand on two feet like a human being, and a human mind ¹  was given to it. ² 

Daniel 8:7

8:7 I saw it approaching the ram. It went into a fit of rage against the ram ³  and struck it ⁴  and broke off its two horns. The ram had no ability to resist it. ⁵  The goat hurled the ram ⁶  to the ground and trampled it. No one could deliver the ram from its power. ⁷ 

Daniel 9:26

9:26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,

an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. ⁸ 

As for the city and the sanctuary,

the people of the coming prince will destroy ⁹  them.

But his end will come speedily ¹⁰  like a flood. ¹¹ 

Until the end of the war that has been decreed

there will be destruction.

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¹ tn Aram “heart of a man.”

² sn The identity of the first animal, derived from v. 17 and the parallels in chap. 2, is Babylon. The reference to the plucking of its wings is probably a reference to the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity (cf. chap. 4). The latter part of v. 4 then describes the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar. The other animals have traditionally been understood to represent respectively Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, although most of modern scholarship identifies them as Media, Persia, and Greece. For a biblical parallel to the mention of lion, bear, and leopard together, see Hos 13:7-8.

³ tn Heb “him.”

⁴ tn Heb “the ram.”

⁵ tn Heb “stand before him.”

⁶ tn Heb “he hurled him.” The referents of both pronouns (the male goat and the ram) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ sn The goat of Daniel’s vision represents Greece; the large horn represents Alexander the Great. The ram stands for Media-Persia. Alexander’s rapid conquest of the Persians involved three battles of major significance which he won against overwhelming odds: Granicus (334 B.C.), Isus (333 B.C.), and Gaugemela (331 B.C.).

⁸ sn The expression have nothing is difficult. Presumably it refers to an absence of support or assistance for the anointed one at the time of his “cutting off.” The KJV rendering “but not for himself,” apparently suggesting a vicarious death, cannot be defended.

⁹ tc Some witnesses (e.g., the Syriac) understand a passive verb and the preposition עִם (’im, “with) rather than the noun עַם (’am, “people”), thus reading “the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed with the coming prince.”

¹⁰ tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.