World English Bible · The Persian return
Daniel 8
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In the third year of the reign of King , a appeared to me, even to me, , after that which appeared to me at the first. I saw the . Now it was so, that when I saw, I was in the citadel of , which is in the province of . I saw in the , and I was by the river Ulai. Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram which had two stood before the river. The two were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward. No animals could stand before him. There wasn't any who could out of his hand, but he did according to his will, and magnified himself. As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west over the surface of the whole earth, and didn't touch the ground. The goat had a notable between his eyes. 6He came to the ram that had the two , which I saw standing before the river, and ran on him in the fury of his . I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with against him, and struck the ram, and broke his two . There was no in the ram to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. There was no one who could the ram out of his hand. The male goat magnified himself exceedingly. When he was strong, the great was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable toward the four winds of . Out of one of them came out a which grew exceedingly great—toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the land. It grew great, even to the ; and it cast down some of the army and of the stars to the ground and trampled on them. Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the army; and it took away from him the continual burnt offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. The army was given over to it together with the continual burnt offering through . It cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered. Then I heard a one speaking; and another one said to that certain one who spoke, "How long will the about the continual burnt offering, and the that makes desolate, to give both and the army to be trodden under foot be?" He said to me, "To two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings. Then will be cleansed." When I, even I , had seen the , I sought to understand it. Then behold, there stood before me someone with the appearance of a man. I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, which called and said, ", make this man understand the ." So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened, and fell on ; but he said to me, "Understand, , for the belongs to the time of the end." Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with toward the ground; but he touched me and set me upright. He said, "Behold, I will make you know what will be in the latter time of the , for it belongs to the of the end. The ram which you saw, that had the two , they are the kings of and . The rough male goat is the king of . The great that is between his eyes is the first king. As for that which was broken, in the place where four stood up, four kingdoms will stand up out of the nation, but not with his . "In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full, a king of fierce , and understanding , will stand up. His will be mighty, but not by his own . He will destroy awesomely, and will prosper in what he does. He will destroy the mighty ones and the people. Through his policy he will cause deceit to prosper in his hand. He will magnify himself in , and he will destroy many in their security. He will also stand up against the prince of princes, but he will be broken without human hands. "The of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true; but seal up the , for it belongs to many ." I, , fainted, and was sick for some days. Then I rose up and did the king's business. I wondered at the , but no one understood it.
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The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.