8:5 While I was contemplating all this, 1 a male goat 2 was coming from the west over the surface of all the land 3 without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn 4 between its eyes.
8:9 From one of them came a small horn. 5 But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. 6
1 tn The words “all this” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
2 tn Heb “and behold, a he-goat of the goats.”
3 tn Or “of the whole earth” (NAB, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
4 tn Heb “a horn of vision” [or “conspicuousness”], i.e., “a conspicuous horn,” one easily seen.
5 sn This small horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who controlled the Seleucid kingdom from ca. 175-164
6 sn The expression the beautiful land (Heb. הַצֶּבִי [hatsÿvi] = “the beauty”) is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel. Cf. 11:16, 41, where it is preceded by the word אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”).