Read the passage and its setting
Daniel 8:15-26, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Daniel 8:15-26
Gabriel Interprets and Orders the Vision Sealed
The Main Point
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Context That Shapes This Passage
How does this passage relate?
Daniel 8:15-26In “Gabriel Interprets and Orders the Vision Sealed,” the complete unit develops this passage-specific claim: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Why this relationship fits: The reviewed boundary states: 8:15-26 is one natural movement because gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision. The boundary changes after verse 26.
Where does this sit in the whole book?
Daniel as a whole8:9-14 completes “A Little Horn Attacks Host and Sanctuary”; the text now turns to “Gabriel Interprets and Orders the Vision Sealed.” Its final verse prepares “Daniel Collapses and Remains Astonished” in 8:27.
Why this relationship fits: 8:15-26 is one natural movement because gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision. The boundary changes after verse 26. The unit's reviewed main point is: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Follow the Tales and Visions
See why this section appears here and how the author's movement leads to its meaning.
Why Is This Passage Here?
8:9-14 completes “A Little Horn Attacks Host and Sanctuary”; the text now turns to “Gabriel Interprets and Orders the Vision Sealed.” Its final verse prepares “Daniel Collapses and Remains Astonished” in 8:27.
Follow the Movement
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Why This Interpretation Fits
Named kingdoms
Verses 20-21 name Media-Persia and Greece, anchoring the symbols in ancient imperial succession.
Evening-mornings
The phrase may count days or morning-and-evening offerings; the cultic context and syntax must remain visible.
Strong Antiochus horizon
The sanctuary attack closely fits Antiochus IV, but the text's theological and later reception horizons are not exhausted by one label.
Understand the Meaning and Its Boundaries
Clarify the words that matter and keep the conclusion no broader than the passage allows.
What the Passage Is Not Saying
Reading Daniel 8:15-26 inside Daniel's complete literary and historical movement rules out these uses:
The horn does not identify a modern person or state.
The 2,300 evenings-mornings do not provide a current date-setting code.
Sanctuary violence does not authorize religious retaliation.
Daniel's collapse does not make illness proof of spiritual insight.
Context check: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
What Remains True Today
Oppression of worship has a limit before God even when sufferers cannot calculate or control the end. Daniel 8:15-26 keeps that truth tied to this claim: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Respond and Remember
Let the meaning shape life carefully, then practice explaining the section in context.
How This Should Shape Us
Why these applications follow
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Oppression of worship has a limit before God even when sufferers cannot calculate or control the end. Daniel 8:15-26 keeps that truth tied to this claim: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
How should this shape us today?
Protect communities under religious coercion and resist both desecration and retaliatory violence without claiming a secret calendar. In Daniel 8:15-26, respond specifically to this movement: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Teach It Back
Explain Daniel 8:15-26 in your own words. Include its movement, ancient horizon, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go Deeper
The main explanation above stands on its own. Open these optional sections for fuller language, history, disagreements, and source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Named kingdoms
Verses 20-21 name Media-Persia and Greece, anchoring the symbols in ancient imperial succession.
Evening-mornings
The phrase may count days or morning-and-evening offerings; the cultic context and syntax must remain visible.
Strong Antiochus horizon
The sanctuary attack closely fits Antiochus IV, but the text's theological and later reception horizons are not exhausted by one label.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
the daily / regular offering
The Hebrew adjective functions substantivally for the regular cultic service; KJV 'daily sacrifice' supplies the noun from context.
How certain? probableevening-morning
The unusual singular sequence grounds the 2,300-count dispute.
How certain? probablethe pleasant / glorious land
The compressed expression points toward the land without licensing a modern territorial claim.
How certain? probableWhat the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Imperial setting and limits of reconstruction
The vision strongly evokes Alexander's conquest, successor kingdoms, and Antiochus IV's suppression of Judean worship and sanctuary profanation. Historical fit is high in broad sequence but not every symbolic feature maps with equal precision.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
KJV wording and material Hebrew-Aramaic alternatives
KJV wording is retained from the pinned corpus; material Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek-edition differences are identified without replacing the displayed text.
How certain? probableEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Daniel in Jewish Scripture and ancient textual traditions
Read this unit inside Daniel's exilic court setting and scriptural world before importing later apocalyptic systems.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Later reception with first-horizon controls
Later Jewish and Christian reception may illuminate the unit, but it does not erase its ancient Judean horizon or settle disputed symbols.
How certain? probableTextual variantsManuscript differences only when they affect meaning
Masoretic, Old Greek, Theodotion, and composition care
The Masoretic Hebrew-Aramaic text controls the pinned KJV coverage, while Old Greek and Theodotion remain material witnesses whose agreements and differences require passage-specific care.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Readers debate the count as 2,300 days or 1,150 pairs of offerings, exact start and end, referent of the host, and whether later fulfillment extends beyond Antiochus. The package refuses a modern countdown.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
The unit places human power under divine judgment and care without licensing readers to claim Daniel's revelatory authority for themselves.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
This unit contributes to Daniel's movement from exile and court service through beastly empire, suffering, judgment, resurrection hope, and promised rest: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The horn does not identify a modern person or state.
Daniel's memorable stories, numbers, and symbols can feel easier to imitate or decode than to interpret within their literary, historical, and ethical setting.
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Oppression of worship has a limit before God even when sufferers cannot calculate or control the end. Daniel 8:15-26 keeps that truth tied to this claim: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
The 2,300 evenings-mornings do not provide a current date-setting code.
Daniel's memorable stories, numbers, and symbols can feel easier to imitate or decode than to interpret within their literary, historical, and ethical setting.
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Oppression of worship has a limit before God even when sufferers cannot calculate or control the end. Daniel 8:15-26 keeps that truth tied to this claim: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Sanctuary violence does not authorize religious retaliation.
Daniel's memorable stories, numbers, and symbols can feel easier to imitate or decode than to interpret within their literary, historical, and ethical setting.
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Oppression of worship has a limit before God even when sufferers cannot calculate or control the end. Daniel 8:15-26 keeps that truth tied to this claim: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Daniel's collapse does not make illness proof of spiritual insight.
Daniel's memorable stories, numbers, and symbols can feel easier to imitate or decode than to interpret within their literary, historical, and ethical setting.
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Oppression of worship has a limit before God even when sufferers cannot calculate or control the end. Daniel 8:15-26 keeps that truth tied to this claim: Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Daniel 8:15-26, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew-Aramaic wording, morphology, language boundary, names, repeated roots, clauses, and lexical controls.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Dan.xml, 8:15-26; Hebrew 1:1–2:4a and 8:1–12:13, Aramaic 2:4b–7:28
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew-Aramaic, textual, historical, translation, chronology, angelic-language, and duration notes.
NET Bible Daniel PDF, printed pp. 1660–1662, translation and translator notes on 8:15-26
Supports: Bilingual form, genres, composition, imperial settings, Antiochus IV, four kingdoms, seventy weeks, resurrection, and major critical alternatives.
P. R. Davies, 'Daniel,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 563–571; chapter-level discussion applied to 8:15-26
Supports: Two major Greek editions, substantial chapters 4–6 differences, numbering, wording, order, and additions outside the pinned KJV mapping.
McLay, NETS Daniel, introduction printed pp. 991–994 and parallel Old Greek/Theodotion translation pp. 995–1025; 8:15-26
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Daniel 8:15-26, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew aramaic text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Daniel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew-Aramaic wording, morphology, language boundary, names, repeated roots, clauses, and lexical controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Dan.xml, 8:15-26; Hebrew 1:1–2:4a and 8:1–12:13, Aramaic 2:4b–7:28
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Daniel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew-Aramaic, textual, historical, translation, chronology, angelic-language, and duration notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Daniel PDF, printed pp. 1660–1662, translation and translator notes on 8:15-26
Open source ↗scholarly commentary article
Daniel
Philip R. Davies
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, 2001
Supports: Bilingual form, genres, composition, imperial settings, Antiochus IV, four kingdoms, seventy weeks, resurrection, and major critical alternatives.
Exact location: P. R. Davies, 'Daniel,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 563–571; chapter-level discussion applied to 8:15-26
Open source ↗greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Daniel
R. Timothy McLay
Oxford University Press for the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 2009, electronic corrections through 2014
Supports: Two major Greek editions, substantial chapters 4–6 differences, numbering, wording, order, and additions outside the pinned KJV mapping.
Exact location: McLay, NETS Daniel, introduction printed pp. 991–994 and parallel Old Greek/Theodotion translation pp. 995–1025; 8:15-26
Open source ↗