Daniele 8:1

1 NELL’anno terzo del regno del re Belsasar, una visione apparve a me, Daniele, dopo quella che mi era apparita al principio.

Daniele 8:1 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 8:1

In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar
Which some say ^F20 was the last year of his reign; but, according to Ptolemy's canon, he reigned seventeen years; and so says Josephus ^F21; however, this, as well as the preceding vision, were seen before what happened recorded in the "fifth" and "sixth" chapters. The following vision was seen by Daniel, according to Bishop Usher ^F23 and Dean Prideaux ^F24 in the year of the world 3451 A.M., and 553 B.C. Mr. Bedford ^F25 places it in 552 B.C.; and Mr. Whiston ^F26, very wrongly, in 537 B.C., two years after the death of Belshazzar. The prophet having, in the preceding chapters, related what concerned the Chaldeans, he wrote in the Chaldee language; but now, henceforward, writing of things which concerned the Jews more especially, and the church and people of God in later times, he writes in the Hebrew tongue. A vision appeared unto me, even to me Daniel;
and not another; which is said for the certainty of it; whether it was seen by him waking, or in a dream, as the former vision, is not certain; it seems rather as if he was awake at first, though he afterwards fell prostrate to the ground, and into a deep sleep; yet the Syriac version takes it to be a dream, and so renders the first clause of the next verse: "after that which appeared to me at the first"; at the beginning of Belshazzar's reign, in the first year of it, recorded in the preceding chapter; which was concerning the four monarchies in general, and particularly concerning the fourth or Roman monarchy, of which a large account is given; and the Chaldean monarchy being near at an end, here the two monarchies between, namely, the Persian and Grecian, are in this vision described.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 28. p. 81.
F21 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 4.
F23 Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3451.
F24 Connexion, &c part 1. p. 117.
F25 Scripture Chronlogy, p. 710.
F26 Chronological Tables, cent. 10.

Daniele 8:1 In-Context

1 NELL’anno terzo del regno del re Belsasar, una visione apparve a me, Daniele, dopo quella che mi era apparita al principio.

2 Io adunque riguardava in visione or io era, quando vidi quella visione, in Susan, stanza reale, ch’è nella provincia di Elam; riguardava, dico, in visione, essendo in sul fiume Ulai.

3 Ed alzai gli occhi, e riguardai, ed ecco un montone stava in piè dirincontro al fiume, il quale avea due corna, e quelle due corna erano alte; me l’uno era più alto dell’altro, e il più alto saliva l’ultimo.

4 Io vidi che quel montone cozzava verso l’Occidente, verso il Settentrione, e verso il Mezzodì; e niuna bestia poteva durar davanti a lui; e non vi era alcuno che riscotesse di man sua, e faceva ciò che gli piaceva, e divenne grande.

5 Ed io posi mente, ed ecco un becco veniva d’Occidente, sopra la faccia di tutta la terra, e non toccava punto la terra; e questo becco avea un corno ritorto in mezzo degli occhi.