The rough male goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
Parallel translations
- KJV And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
- BSB The shaggy goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king.
- NKJV And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king.
- NASB The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
- NLT The shaggy male goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes represents the first king of the Greek Empire.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The goat is the king of Greece, and its great horn is the first king. The vision plainly names the empire that would conquer Persia.
Overview
Gabriel identifies the shaggy goat as Greece and its prominent horn as its first king, fulfilled in Alexander the Great. The specificity, given centuries before the events, displays God's exact foreknowledge. It strengthens confidence that the rest of the vision, including the coming persecution, will likewise come to pass under God's sovereign hand.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Dan 11:3A mighty king shall stand up, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
- Dan 10:20Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia. When I go out, behold, the prince of Greece shall come.
- Dan 8:5–8As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west over the surface of the whole earth, and didn’t touch the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
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Christ at the center
Daniel sees the stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms, and 'one like a son of man' given everlasting dominion — titles and visions Jesus claims as his own.
How Daniel 8:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.