Daniel 8:8
And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards the four winds of heaven.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Hircus autem caprarum magnus factus est nimis : cumque crevisset, fractum est cornu magnum, et orta sunt quatuor cornua subter illud per quatuor ventos cæli.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ὁ τράγος τῶν αἰγῶν ἐμεγαλύνθη ἕως σφόδρα· καὶ ἐν τῷ ἰσχῦσαι αὐτὸν συνετρίβη τὸ κέρας αὐτοῦ τὸ μέγα, καὶ ἀνέβη κέρατα τέσσερα ὑποκάτω αὐτοῦ εἰς τοὺς τέσσαρες ἀνέμους τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וּצְפִ֥יר הָעִזִּ֖ים הִגְדִּ֣יל עַד מְאֹ֑ד וּכְעָצְמ֗וֹ נִשְׁבְּרָה֙ הַקֶּ֣רֶן הַגְּדוֹלָ֔ה וַֽתַּעֲלֶ֜נָה חָז֤וּת אַרְבַּע֙ תַּחְתֶּ֔יהָ לְאַרְבַּ֖ע רוּח֥וֹת הַשָּׁמָֽיִם
Haydock's commentary
Broken, by death. Usher, the year of the world 3681 [319 B.C.]
Four. Seleucus, Antigonus, Philip, and Ptolemeus, the successors of Alexander, who divided his empire among them. (Challoner)
Other generals held out for some time. Philip was only a nominal king; Antipater governed Macedon and Greece. Syria, Asia, and Egypt, formed three other kingdoms. All four marked out by the four heads of the leopard, chap. vii. 6. But the prophet is intent upon Syria and Egypt, which had most to do with the Jews. (Calmet)
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.