What Does Daniel 8:21 Mean in the King James?

And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
Daniel 8:21 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

The horn is not merely an emblem of strength here: the verse identifies it as the first king, turning a nation-sized image into one ruler.

The rough goat names the king of Grecia, and its great horn between its eyes names the first king. The image holds a whole realm and its ruler in one frame, giving both symbols a precise meaning.

קֶרֶן

qeren

GROWS FROM

ק־ר־ן

Q-R-N

A projecting horn or ray; its verbal form describes sending out rays.

The same consonants appear in ⁨קָרַן⁩ (qaran), “to send out rays,” the word behind Moses’ face “shone” in Exodus 34:29. The horn is a projection from a larger body, and here that single projection is named as a king.

ALSO GROWS

qaran: To send out rays; to shine.

קָרַן

The shared root links the horn’s projecting shape with rays shining outward.

qarnot: Horns, the plural form of qeren.

קַרְנוֹת

The verse singles out one great horn, concentrating the image in one ruler.

שָׂעִיר

sa'ir

GROWS FROM

שׂ־ע־ר

Ś-ʿ-R

Hair or hairiness; something shaggy.

The Hebrew word rendered “rough goat” carries the sense of a hairy or shaggy one. English separates the animal from its roughness, while the Hebrew word family holds the goat and its defining hairiness together.

ALSO GROWS

se'ar: Hair.

שֵׂעָר

This is the concrete hairiness embedded in the description of the goat.

sa'ir: A hairy one; a he-goat.

שָׂעִיר

The word itself can name both the shaggy quality and the goat that bears it.

מֶלֶךְ

melek

GROWS FROM

מ־ל־ך

M-L-K

To rule or reign.

“king” in this verse is melek. The verse moves from a symbolic horn to ⁨מֶלֶךְ⁩ (melek), a ruler rooted in the act of reigning. The horn is not left as a vague sign of force: it points to a person who governs.

ALSO GROWS

malakh: To reign.

מָלַךְ

This verbal form names the governing action behind the king.

malkut: Kingdom or kingship.

מַלְכוּת

The word family holds the ruler and the realm’s governing order together.

In prophetic visions, animal bodies and horns can represent rulers, and the text identifies what those images mean.

These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
Daniel 7:17 · KJVThe vision directly identifies its animal forms as kings.
The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
Daniel 8:20 · KJVThe ram and its horns are named as ruling powers.
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Revelation 17:12 · KJVThe horns again represent rulers and their authority.
And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
Exodus 34:29 · KJV

The Hebrew verb rendered “shone” is ⁨קָרַן⁩ (qaran), formed from the same Q-R-N consonants as ⁨קֶרֶן⁩ (qeren), “horn.” In Daniel the horn projects from the goat as a ruler; in Exodus the same word family describes rays projecting from a face.

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Daniel 8:21 KJV Meaning