Discovery BoxDaniel 8:2-3 
Context8:2 In this 1 vision I saw myself in Susa 2 the citadel, 3 which is located in the province of Elam. In the vision I saw myself at the Ulai Canal. 4 8:3 I looked up 5 and saw 6 a 7 ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long, 8 but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one.
Daniel 8:6
Context8:6 It came to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed against it with raging strength. 9
1 tn Heb “the.”
2 sn Susa (Heb. שׁוּשַׁן, shushan), located some 230 miles (380 km) east of Babylon, was a winter residence for Persian kings during the Achaemenid period. The language of v. 2 seems to suggest that Daniel may not have been physically present at Susa, but only saw himself there in the vision. However, the Hebrew is difficult, and some have concluded that the first four words of v. 2 in the MT are a later addition (cf. Theodotion).
3 tn The Hebrew word בִּירָה (birah, “castle, palace”) usually refers to a fortified structure within a city, but here it is in apposition to the city name Susa and therefore has a broader reference to the entire city (against this view, however, see BDB 108 s.v. 2). Cf. NAB “the fortress of Susa”; TEV “the walled city of Susa.”
4 tn The term אוּבַל (’uval = “stream, river”) is a relatively rare word in biblical Hebrew, found only here and in vv. 3 and 6. The Ulai was apparently a sizable artificial canal in Susa (cf. NASB, NIV, NCV), and not a river in the ordinary sense of that word.
5 tn Heb “lifted my eyes.”
6 tn Heb “and behold.”
7 tn Heb “one.” The Hebrew numerical adjective occasionally functions like an English indefinite article. See GKC 401 §125.b.
8 tn Heb “high” (also “higher” later in this verse).
9 tn Heb “the wrath of its strength.”
