Daniel 8:10-11

8:10 It grew so big it reached the army ¹  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ²  to the ground, where it trampled them. 8:11 It also acted arrogantly against the Prince of the army, ³  from whom ⁴  the daily sacrifice was removed and whose sanctuary ⁵  was thrown down.

[8:10]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “host.” The term refers to God’s heavenly angelic assembly, which he sometimes leads into battle as an army.

[8:10]  ² sn In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Isa 40:26. In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13).

[8:11]  ³ sn The prince of the army may refer to God (cf. “whose sanctuary” later in the verse) or to the angel Michael (cf. 12:1).

[8:11]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “and by him,” referring to Antiochus rather than to God.

[8:11]  ⁵ sn Here the sanctuary is a reference to the temple of God in Jerusalem.