Daniel 8:15
King James Version (1769)
Other translations
| Verse | KJV | BSB | ASV |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. | While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. | And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. |
In context
AI-assisted, sourcedDaniel has just seen the vision of the ram, the he goat and the little horn, and heard that the sanctuary would be cleansed after 2,300 days. He tries to understand what it means, and at once someone who looks like a man stands in front of him. A voice then tells Gabriel to make Daniel understand the vision. Daniel 8:3Daniel 8:5Daniel 8:9Daniel 8:14Daniel 8:15Daniel 8:16
SpeakingDaniel tells this in the first person: "I, even I Daniel." Chapters 7-12 are written this way. Daniel 8:15Daniel 8:1Daniel overview
ToThe book is written for God's people in exile and after it. Daniel is told to shut up the vision because it is for many days. Daniel overviewDaniel 8:26
Also involvedThe one with the appearance of a man comes near to explain the vision. The next verse shows him to be Gabriel, sent to make Daniel understand. Daniel 8:15Daniel 8:16Daniel 8:17
After the vision ends, Daniel seeks its meaning. A figure like a man appears standing before him. This begins the explanation of the vision that follows in verses 16-26. Daniel 8:15Daniel 8:16Daniel 8:19Daniel 8:20Daniel 8:21
In the vision Daniel was at Shushan in the palace, in the province of Elam, by the river Ulai. The voice that calls Gabriel comes from between the banks of the Ulai. Daniel 8:2Daniel 8:16
The eventsThe vision came in the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, after an earlier vision Daniel had received. Daniel 8:1
WrittenTraditional: Daniel wrote the book in the 500s BC. Scholarly: many critical scholars date its final form to about 167-164 BC, under Antiochus IV, while others keep the 500s BC date. Daniel overview
HereThe verse moves the chapter from seeing to explaining. Daniel wants to understand, and God sends a messenger so the vision is not left a riddle. Daniel 8:15Daniel 8:16Daniel 8:19
In the whole of ScriptureDaniel shows that God reveals secrets to those who seek him. In chapter 7 Daniel also asked one who stood by for the truth and was given the meaning. In chapter 10 one like the appearance of a man again comes and strengthens him. Daniel overviewDaniel 7:16Daniel 7:19Daniel 10:16Daniel 10:18
For readersPeter says the prophets searched diligently to learn what the Spirit was showing them. Daniel is an example of that seeking. The meaning of the vision is given by God's messenger in the text itself: the ram is the kings of Media and Persia, and the rough goat is the king of Grecia. 1 Peter 1:101 Peter 1:11Daniel 8:20Daniel 8:21
- soughtבָּקַשׁ
The word means to seek, to seek to find, or to request. Daniel was not passive. He actively looked for the meaning, as he did when he asked for the truth in 7:16 and 7:19. Strong's H1245Daniel 7:16Daniel 7:19
- meaning (understanding)בִּינָה
The word means understanding or discernment. It matches the command in the next verse: "make this man to understand the vision." Strong's H0998Daniel 8:16Daniel 8:17
- appearanceמַרְאֶה
The word means sight or appearance, and it can mean a supernatural vision. Daniel says the figure looked like a man, not that it was an ordinary man. Daniel 10:18 uses the same kind of wording: "one like the appearance of a man." Strong's H4758Daniel 10:18
- a manגָּבֶר
This word means man, strong man, or warrior, with a stress on strength or the ability to fight. Here it describes how the figure looked: "as the appearance of a man." Strong's H1397Daniel 8:15
Takeaway
When Daniel sought to understand what God had shown him, God sent a messenger to explain it. The vision is then interpreted within the chapter itself, so readers should let those verses (8:19-26) say what the symbols mean. Daniel 8:15Daniel 8:16Daniel 8:19Daniel 8:20Daniel 8:21Daniel 8:22
Drafted by AI from the Scripture and data shown under “Show sources,” then checked automatically and by a second AI pass. Updated 2026-10-28.
The world around the text
About 605-536 BC. King of Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BC). Where Daniel lived and served for about seventy years. The capital of the Babylonian empire, on the Euphrates south of modern Baghdad, in the land the Bible calls Shinar and Chaldea.
Who ruled
- King of BabylonNebuchadnezzar605-562 BC
The king who besieged Jerusalem, carried Daniel and the temple vessels to Babylon, and later destroyed the city and temple. His own building inscriptions boast of the Babylon he built. Daniel 1:1-22 Kings 24:12 Kings 25:8-10Jeremiah 25:1Babylonian Chronicles (ABC 5)
- Last king of Babylon, and his son who ruled in his placeNabonidus and Belshazzar556-539 BC
Nabonidus spent about ten years at the oasis of Tema in Arabia and left his son Belshazzar to rule in Babylon. That is why Belshazzar could only offer Daniel the place of "third ruler in the kingdom": he was himself second. Daniel 5:1Daniel 5:7Daniel 5:29Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)Verse Account of Nabonidus
- Received the kingdom after Babylon fellDarius the MedianFrom 539 BC
Daniel says he "took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old" and set 120 princes over it. Records outside the Bible do not name him; he has been identified with Gubaru, the governor Cyrus set over Babylon, or with Cyrus himself. Daniel 5:31Daniel 6:1Daniel 9:1Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)
- King of PersiaCyrus559-530 BC
He united the Medes and Persians, took Babylon in 539 BC, and let the exiles go home to rebuild the temple, as Isaiah had named him beforehand. Daniel 1:21Daniel 6:28Daniel 10:1Ezra 1:1-4Isaiah 44:28-45:1Cyrus Cylinder
- King of JudahJehoiakim609-598 BC
Judah's king when Daniel was taken. Jeremiah warned him and his people that the land would serve Babylon seventy years. Daniel 1:1-22 Kings 23:36-24:6Jeremiah 25:1-11
What was happening, 612 BC to 167 BC
- 612 BCWarNineveh falls
Babylon and the Medes destroyed Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, as Nahum and Zephaniah had foretold. Babylon became the great power of the region. Nahum 3:7Zephaniah 2:13Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC 3)
- 605 BCWarBattle of Carchemish
Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Necho of Egypt at Carchemish on the Euphrates, in Jehoiakim's fourth year. The same year he came against Jerusalem and took the first captives, Daniel among them. Jeremiah 46:2Daniel 1:1-4Babylonian Chronicles (ABC 5)
- 597 BCWarJerusalem surrenders
Nebuchadnezzar took King Jehoiachin, his nobles and craftsmen to Babylon. The prophet Ezekiel went into exile with them. 2 Kings 24:10-17Ezekiel 1:2Babylonian Chronicles (ABC 5)
- 586 BCWarJerusalem and the temple destroyed
Babylon's army burned the temple and the city and broke down its walls. Daniel later prays over "the desolations of Jerusalem" and asks God to shine on his "sanctuary that is desolate." 2 Kings 25:8-10Jeremiah 52:12-14Daniel 9:2Daniel 9:17
- c. 575 BCBuildingBabylon rebuilt in splendor
Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon with great walls, palaces and the blue-glazed Ishtar Gate, and his inscriptions praise his own work. Compare his boast: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" Daniel 4:30Nebuchadnezzar's East India House InscriptionHerodotus, Histories 1.178-183
- 562 BCRulersNebuchadnezzar dies
His son Evil-merodach became king and released Jehoiachin of Judah from prison. 2 Kings 25:27-30Jeremiah 52:31-34
- c. 553-543 BCRulersNabonidus leaves Babylon to Belshazzar
King Nabonidus stayed at Tema in Arabia for about ten years, and the yearly New Year festival in Babylon was not held. Belshazzar governed in Babylon. Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)Daniel 5:1Daniel 7:1
- 550 BCWarCyrus unites the Medes and Persians
Cyrus of Persia defeated Astyages king of the Medes, joining the two peoples in one kingdom. Daniel's vision names the ram's two horns as "the kings of Media and Persia," the higher coming up last. Daniel 8:3Daniel 8:20Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)Herodotus, Histories 1.127-130
- October 539 BCWarBabylon falls to Cyrus
Cyrus's army entered Babylon without a long siege. Herodotus says the people were feasting when the city was taken. Daniel records that "in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain." Daniel 5:30-31Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)Herodotus, Histories 1.191Cyrus Cylinder
- 538 BCGod's peopleCyrus lets the exiles return
In his first year over Babylon, Cyrus proclaimed that the Jews could go back and build the LORD's house in Jerusalem. Daniel "continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus." Ezra 1:1-42 Chronicles 36:22-23Daniel 1:21Cyrus Cylinder
- c. 536 BCGod's peopleThe temple's foundation is laid
The returned exiles rebuilt the altar and laid the foundation of the temple. In the third year of Cyrus, Daniel was still in the east, mourning and praying. Ezra 3:1-11Daniel 10:1-3
- 334-331 BCWarAlexander the Great conquers Persia
Alexander of Macedon crossed into Asia and overthrew the Persian empire within four years. Daniel 8:21 names the rough goat as "the king of Grecia" and its great horn as "the first king." Daniel 8:5-8Daniel 8:21Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander 1-3
- 323-301 BCWarAlexander's empire is divided
Alexander died young, and after twenty years of war his generals divided his empire, chiefly into four kingdoms. Daniel 8:22 says "four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." Daniel 8:8Daniel 8:22Daniel 11:4Diodorus Siculus, Library 18-20Plutarch, Demetrius 28-30
- 167 BCWarAntiochus IV defiles the temple
The Greek king Antiochus IV banned Jewish worship and set up a pagan altar on the altar of burnt offering. 1 Maccabees calls it "the abomination of desolation." Two centuries later Jesus spoke of "the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet" as still to come. 1 Maccabees 1:54-59Josephus, Antiquities 12.5.4Matthew 24:15
The full picture: places, culture and daily life. Scripture first, then ancient records of these years (the Babylonian Chronicles, the Cyrus Cylinder, Nebuchadnezzar's inscriptions) and ancient writers (Herodotus, Arrian, Diodorus, Josephus). Drafted by Claude and not yet reviewed by a person.
Original Hebrew words
| English | Hebrew | Say it | Strong's | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| and it was | וַיְהִ֗י | vay-HI | H1961 | to beהָיָה (ha.yah) 1) to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out 1a) (Qal) 1a1) --- 1a1a) to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come to pass 1a1b) to come about, come to pass 1a2) to come into being, become 1a2a) to arise, appear, come 1a2b) to become 1a2b1) to become 1a2b2) to become like 1a2b3) to be instituted, be established 1a3) to be 1a3a) to exist, be in existence 1a3b) to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time) 1a3c) to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality) 1a3d) to accompany, be with 1b) (Niphal) … |
| when saw I | בִּרְאֹתִ֛י | bir-'o-TI | H7200G | to see: seeרָאָה (ra.ah) : see/show 1) to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to see 1a2) to see, perceive 1a3) to see, have vision 1a4) to look at, see, regard, look after, see after, learn about, observe, watch, look upon, look out, find out 1a5) to see, observe, consider, look at, give attention to, discern, distinguish 1a6) to look at, gaze at 1a7) to provide, choose 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to appear, present oneself 1b2) to be seen 1b3) to be visible 1c) (Pual) to be seen 1d) (Hiphil) 1d1) to cause to see, show 1d2) to cause to look intently at, behold, cause to gaze at 1e) (Hophal) … |
| I | אֲנִ֥י | 'a-NI | H0589 | meאֲנָא (a.na) I (first pers. sing. -usually used for emphasis) Aramaic of a.ni (אֲנִי, אָֽנֹכִ֫י "I" H0589) |
| Daniel | דָנִיֵּ֖אל | da-ni-YEL | H1840G | Belteshazzarבֵּלְטְשַׁאצַּר (be.le.te.shats.tsar) A man living at the time of Exile and Return, first mentioned at Ezk.14.14; also called Belteshazzar at Dan.1.7; 2.26; 4.8,9,18,19; 5.12; 10.1; Another name of da.niy.yel (דָּנִיֵּאל, דָּנִאֵל "Daniel" H1840G) § Belteshazzar = "lord of the straitened's treasure" … |
| the vision | הֶחָז֑וֹן | he-cha-ZON | H2377 | visionחֱזוּ (che.zev) 1) vision, appearance 1a) vision 1b) appearance |
| and I sought ! | וָאֲבַקְשָׁ֣ה | va-'a-vak-SHAH | H1245 | to seekבָּקַשׁ (ba.qash) 1) to seek, require, desire, exact, request 1a) (Piel) 1a1) to seek to find 1a2) to seek to secure 1a3) to seek the face 1a4) to desire, demand 1a5) to require, exact 1a6) to ask, request 1b) (Pual) to be sought |
| understanding | בִינָ֔ה | vi-NAH | H0998 | understandingבִּינָה (bi.nah) 1) understanding, discernment 1a) act 1b) faculty 1c) object 1d) personified Aramaic equivalent: bi.nah (בִּינָה "understanding" H0999) |
| and there! | וְהִנֵּ֛ה | ve-hi-NEH | H2009 | beholdהִנֵּה (hin.neh) behold, lo, see, if |
| [was] standing | עֹמֵ֥ד | 'o-MED | H5975G | to stand: standעָמַד (a.mad) : stand/stop/establish 1) to stand, remain, endure, take one's stand 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to stand, take one's stand, be in a standing attitude, stand forth, take a stand, present oneself, attend upon, be or become servant of 1a2) to stand still, stop (moving or doing), cease 1a3) to tarry, delay, remain, continue, abide, endure, persist, be steadfast 1a4) to make a stand, hold one's ground 1a5) to stand upright, remain standing, stand up, rise, be erect, be upright 1a6) to arise, appear, come on the scene, stand forth, appear, rise up or against … |
| to before me | לְנֶגְדִּ֖י | le-neg-DI | H5048 | beforeנֶ֫גֶד (ne.ged) subst 1) what is conspicuous, what is in front of adv 2) in front of, straight forward, before, in sight of 3) in front of oneself, straightforward 4) before your face, in your view or purpose with prep 5) what is in front of, corresponding to 6) in front of, before 7) in the sight or presence of 8) parallel to 9) over, for 10) in front, opposite 11) at a distance prep 12) from the front of, away from 13) from before the eyes of, opposite to, at a distance from 14) from before, in front of 15) as far as the front of Aramaic equivalent: ne.ged (נֶ֫גֶד "before" H5049) |
| like [the] appearance of | כְּמַרְאֵה־ | ke-mar-'eh- | H4758 | appearanceמַרְאֶה (mar.eh) 1) sight, appearance, vision 1a) sight, phenomenon, spectacle, appearance, vision 1b) what is seen 1c) a vision (supernatural) 1d) sight, vision (power of seeing) |
| a man | גָֽבֶר׃ | GA-ver | H1397 | great manגָּבֶר (ga.ver) man, strong man, warrior (emphasising strength or ability to fight) |
Words and meanings from STEPBible data (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). The capitalized syllable is the stressed one.