Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Daniel 8:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Daniel 8:21 contributes this concrete line to the movement: “And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between…”.
Read It With
- Daniel 8:15–26
Read Daniel 8:21 with 8:15–26. Daniel 8:21 advances “Gabriel Interprets and Orders the Vision Sealed” with the textual step “And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between…”. The complete unit establishes 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.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This boundary keeps “Gabriel Interprets and Orders the Vision Sealed” together inside the larger chapter movement and prevents the next scene or disclosure from being flattened into it. At Daniel 8:21, the wording “And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between…” supplies this verse's distinct step.
Follow the Context
- Read the opening words of Daniel 8:15-26 as the entry into “Gabriel Interprets and Orders the Vision Sealed.”
- Gabriel identifies Media-Persia and Greece, describes a fierce later king broken without human hand, and tells Daniel to seal the true vision.
- Let verse 26 complete this movement before moving to 8:27.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
The horn does not identify a modern person or state.
What Remains True
Oppression of worship has a limit before God even when sufferers cannot calculate or control the end. Daniel 8:21 contributes the concrete textual step “And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between…”.
How It Can Shape Life
- Protect communities under religious coercion and resist both desecration and retaliatory violence without claiming a secret calendar. Keep Daniel 8:21 inside 8:15–26 and do not convert its wording into an unsupported modern identification.
Teach It Back
Explain Daniel 8:21's role in 8:15–26. Name the ancient setting, quote or paraphrase “And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between…”, state one material uncertainty, and name one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Daniel 8:15-26 — Gabriel Interprets and Orders the Vision SealedSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Daniel 8:21 must be read with this unit-level uncertainty: 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.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 ↗