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Verse

Daniel 7:8

ESV I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
NIV While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
NASB While I was thinking about the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the previous horns were plucked out before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like human eyes, and a mouth uttering great boasts.
CSB "While I was considering the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. And suddenly in this horn there were eyes like the eyes of a human and a mouth that was speaking arrogantly.
NLT As I was looking at the horns, suddenly another small horn appeared among them. Three of the first horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly.
KJV I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

What does Daniel 7:8 mean?

What Daniel sees in this dream (Daniel 7:1) is highly poetic. The images he experiences are not recordings of literal events; these are prophecies about nations that will arise in the Mediterranean region (Daniel 7:2–3, 17). The first three images are animal-like and represent the empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. The fourth is a bizarre, terrifying creature with iron teeth, ten horns (Daniel 7:7) and bronze claws (Daniel 7:19). The first ten horns symbolize ten kings (Daniel 7:24), but they are followed by another, smaller horn.

Daniel sees this "little horn" emerge from the other ten. It has human eyes and a mouth; the mouth delivers strong words. The literal word used can mean "boastings" or possibly "big talk." Later, the little horn's speech will be depicted as blasphemy and bluster (Daniel 7:20, 25). As it arises, three of the existing horns are torn out. Uprooting three other horns implies that the little horn usurped their power. Human eyes imply human intelligence.

Other passages give interpreters more context to suggest the identity of these various horns (Daniel 7:24; Revelation 17:3, 7, 12, 16). The ten horns are generally interpreted as ten kingdoms which will exist in the end times. These ten will place themselves under the rule of a single leader. Some commentators refer to this as the "Revived Roman Empire" (Revelation 17:8); the suggestion is that an even more ferocious Rome-like government will rule during the end times.
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