Daniel 8:3
And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold a ram stood before the water, having two high horns, and one higher than the other, and growing up.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et levavi oculus meos, et vidi : et ecce aries unus stabat ante paludem, habens cornua excelsa, et unum excelsius altero atque succrescens. Postea
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἦρα τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου καὶ ἴδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ κριὸς εἷς ἑστηκὼς πρὸ τοῦ Οὐβάλ, καὶ αὐτῷ κέρατα ὑψηλά· καὶ τὸ ἓν ὑψηλότερον τοῦ ἑτέρου, καὶ τὸ ὑψηλὸν ἀνέβαινεν ἐπ᾽ ἐσχάτῳ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וָאֶשָּׂ֤א עֵינַי֙ וָאֶרְאֶ֔ה וְהִנֵּ֣ה אַ֣יִל אֶחָ֗ד עֹמֵ֛ד לִפְנֵ֥י הָאֻבָ֖ל וְל֣וֹ קְרָנָ֑יִם וְהַקְּרָנַ֣יִם גְּבֹה֗וֹת וְהָאַחַת֙ גְּבֹהָ֣ה מִן הַשֵּׁנִ֔ית וְהַ֨גְּבֹהָ֔ה עֹלָ֖ה בָּאַחֲרֹנָֽה
Haydock's commentary
A ram. The empire of the Medes and Persians. (Challoner) (Worthington)
Cyrus, the founder, was allied to both.
Higher, denoting the Persians; or Hystaspes, and his posterity, the second branch of the royal family, which reigned to the end: whereas Cambyses was the only one of the race of Cyrus who succeeded to the throne. Others think that he alludes to Codomannus, whom Alexander certainly attacked.
Afterward is not in Hebrew. St. Jerome supposed that another ram was designated, but it is the same.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Hippolytus Treatise on Christ and Antichrist
32. Speak with me, O blessed Daniel. Give me full assurance, I beseech thee. Thou dost prophesy concerning the lioness in Babylon; for thou wast a captive there. Thou hast unfolded the future regarding the bear; for thou wast still in the world, and didst see the things come to pass. Then thou speakest to me of the leopard; and whence canst thou know this, for thou art already gone to thy rest? Who instructed thee to announce these things, but He who formed thee in (from) thy mother’s womb? That is God, thou sayest. Thou hast spoken indeed, and that not falsely. The leopard has arisen; the he-goat is come; he hath smitten the ram; he hath broken his horns in pieces; he hath stamped upon him with his feet. He has been exalted by his fall; (the) four horns have come up from under that one. Rejoice, blessed Daniel! thou hast not been in error: all these things have come to pass.