Daniel 8:2

Louis Segond

Lorsque j'eus cette vision, il me sembla que j'étais à Suse, la capitale, dans la province d'Elam; et pendant ma vision, je me trouvais près du fleuve d'Ulaï.

Parallel Translations

La Bible David Martin (1744)
Je vis donc une vision, et ce fut � Susan, capitale de la Province d'H�lam que je la vis; je vis, dis-je, une vision, et j'�tais sur le fleuve d'Ula�.

La Bible Ostervald (1996)
J'eus une vision, et il arriva, comme je regardais, que j'�tais � Suse, la capitale, dans la province d'�lam, et dans ma vision, je me trouvais pr�s du fleuve Ula�.

Darby's French Translation
Et je vis dans la vision; et il arriva, quand je vis, que j'�tais � Suse, le palais, qui est dans la province d'�lam. Et je vis dans la vision, et j'�tais pr�s du fleuve Ula�.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I saw in: Daniel 8:3, Daniel 7:2, Daniel 7:15, Numbers 12:6, Hebrews 1:1

Shushan: Nehemiah 1:1, Esther 1:2, Esther 2:8, Esther 3:15, Esther 7:6, Esther 8:15, Esther 9:11, Esther 9:15

province: Genesis 10:22, Genesis 14:1, Isaiah 21:2, Jeremiah 25:25, Jeremiah 49:34-39, Ezekiel 32:24

Ulai: Daniel 8:16

Reciprocal: Exodus 1:1 - General 1 Chronicles 1:17 - Elam Ezra 4:9 - Susanchites Esther 8:14 - Shushan Isaiah 11:11 - Elam Ezekiel 1:1 - I saw Daniel 8:27 - and did Daniel 10:4 - as Acts 2:9 - Elamites

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I saw in a vision,.... The following things:

and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; not in reality, but so it seemed to him in the vision; as Ezekiel, when in Babylon, seemed in the visions of God to be at Jerusalem, Ezekiel 8:3. This city Shushan, or Susa, as it is called by other writers, and signifies a "lily", was so called from the plenty of lilies that grew about it, or because of the pleasantness of it; it was the metropolis of the country Susiana, which had its name from it, and was afterwards the royal seat of the kings of Persia. This was first made so by Cyrus; for Strabo a says, that he and the Persians having overcome the Medes, observing that their own country was situated in the extreme parts, and Susa more inward, and nearer to other nations, being, as he says, between Persia and Babylon, set his royal palace in it; approving both the nearness of the country, and the dignity of the city. Here the kings of Persia laid up their treasures, even prodigious large ones; hence Aristagoras told Cleomenes, that if he could take that city, he would vie, and might contend, with Jupiter for riches b; for hither Cyrus carried whatever money he had in Persia, even forty thousand talents, some say fifty c. Alexander d, when he took this city, found a vast quantity of riches in it. It is called here a palace; and so it is spoken of by Herodotus e, Diodorus Siculus f, Pausanius g, Pliny h, and others, as a royal city, where were the residence and palace of the kings of Persia; but the royal palace was not in it at this time; the kings of Babylon had their palace and kept their court at Babylon, where Daniel was; but in vision it seemed to him that he was in Shushan, and which was represented to him as a palace, as it would be, and as the metropolis of the kingdom of Persia, which he had a view of in its future flourishing condition, and as destroyed by Alexander; for, as before observed, it was Cyrus that first made it a royal city; whereas this vision was in the third year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon. Some versions render it, a "tower" or "castle"; and so several writers, as Strabo i Plutarch k and Pliny l, speak of the tower or castle in it. Diodorus Siculus m says, when Antigonus took the tower of Susa, he found in it a golden vine, and a great quantity of other works, to the value of fifteen thousand talents; and out of crowns, and other gifts and spoils, he made up five thousand more. And Polybius n relates, that though Molon took the city, yet could not take the fortress, and was obliged to raise the siege, so strong it was. It must be a mistake of Pliny o that this city was built by Darius Hystaspes; he could only mean it was rebuilt, or rather enlarged, by him, since it was in being long before his time, and even a royal city in the times of Cyrus. Strabo p says it was built by Tithon the father of Merenon, was in compass a fifteen miles, of an oblong figure, and the tower was called after his father's name Mernnonia; and Shushan itself is called, by Herodotus q, Susa Memnonia. At this day, with the common people, it goes by the name of Tuster r. The east gate of the mountain of the house, which led to the temple at Jerusalem, was called Shushan. Some say s there was a building over this gate, on which the palace of Shushan was portrayed, from whence it had its name. The reason of this portrait is differently given; the Jewish commentators on the Misnah t commonly say that this was ordered by the kings of Persia, that the people of Israel might stand in awe of them, and not rebel against them. Their famous lexicographer u says, that this was done, that the Israelites, when they saw it, might remember their captivity in it. But a chronologer w of theirs gives this as the reason, that the children of the captivity made this figure, that they might remember the miracle of Purim, which was made in Shushan; and this, he says, is a good interpretation of it. This city was in the province of Elam; that is, Persia, as it is also called, Isaiah 21:6 for Josephus x says the Persians had their original from the Elamites, or Elameans; and Pliny y observes, that Elymais joined to Persia; and the country of Susiane, so called from Susa its chief city, was, according to Strabo z and Ptolemy a1, a part of Persia: and here Daniel in vision thought himself to be; and a very suitable place for him to have this vision in, which so much concerned the affairs of Persia.

And I saw in a vision, and I was by the river Ulai; that is, in vision; it seemed to the prophet that he was upon the banks of the river Ulai; the same with the Eulaeus of Strabo b1, Pliny c1, Ptolemy d1, and others, which ran by, and surrounded, the city of Shushan, or Susa; the water of which was so light, as Strabo e1 observes, that it was had in great request, and the kings of Persia would drink of no other, and carried it with them wherever they went. Herodotus f1 and Curtius g1 make mention of the river Choaspes, as running by Susa, and say the same things of its water; from whence it might be concluded it was one and the same river, called by different names; though Strabo takes notice of them together, as if they were distinct; yet he, from Polycletus h1, makes them, with Tigris, to disembogue into the same lake, and from thence into the sea. The river which runs by Shushan, now called Souster, according to Monsieur Thevenot i1, is Caron, and comes from the hills about it, and is thought to be the Choaspes of the ancients; near to which, as he was told, is a hill that now goes by the name of Choasp; so that, upon the whole, they seem to be one and the same river k1. Josephus says l1, that Daniel had this vision in the plain of Susa, the metropolis of Persia, as he went out with his friends, that is, out of the city: and the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "by the gate Ulai"; a gate of the city of Shushan so called: and so Saadiah Gaon interprets it a gate; but the former sense is best.

a Geograph. l. 15. p. 500. b Herodoti Terpsichore, sive l. 5. c. 48. c Strabo. ib. p. 502. d Curtius, l. 5. c. 2. Plutarch. in Vita Alexandri, Diador. Sicul. Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 540. e Terpsichore, sive l. 5. sect. 48. f Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 539. g Laconice, sive l. 3. p. 175. h Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27. i Geograph. l. 15. p. 500. k In Vita Alexandri. l Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27.) m Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 540. n Hist. l. 5. p. 249. o Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27.) p Geograph. l. 15. p. 500. q Polymnia, sive l. 7. c. 151. r Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 658, 935. s Jarchi & Bartenora in Misn. Celim, c. 17. sect. 9. t Maimon & Bartenora in Misn. Kelim, c. 17. sect. 9. & Middot, c. 1. sect. 3. u R. Nathan, Sepher Aruch in voce ששן, fol. 160. 3. w R. Abraham Zacuth, Sepher Juchasin, fol. 65. 2. x Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4. y Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27. z Geograph. l. 15. p. 500. a1 Geograph. l. 6. c. 3. b1 Geograph. p. 501, 505. c1 Ut supra, (Nat. Hist.) l. 6. c. 23, 27. d1 Geograph. l. 6. c. 3. e1 Ut supra, (Geograph.) p. 505. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27. f1 Clio, sive l. 1. c. 188. Terpsichore, sive l. 5. c. 49, 52. g1 Ut supra. (Curtius, l. 5. c. 2.) h1 Geograph. l. 15. p. 501. i1 Travels, part 2. B. 3. c. 9. p. 153. k1 See the Universal History, vol. 5. p. 124. l1 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 7.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I saw in a vision - I looked as the vision appeared to me; or I saw certain things represented to me in a vision. On the word vision, see the notes at Daniel 1:17. The meaning here would seem to be that a vision appeared to Daniel, and that he contemplated it with earnestness, to understand what it meant.

That I was at Shushan - As remarked in the introduction to this chapter, this might mean that he seemed to be there, or that the vision was represented to him as being there; but the most natural construction is to suppose that Daniel was actually there himself. Why he was there he has not informed us directly - whether he was on public business, or on his own. From Daniel 8:27, however - “Afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business” - it would seem most probable that he was then in the service of the king. This supposition will not conflict with the statement in Daniel 5:10-11, in which the queen-mother, when the handwriting appeared on the wall of the palace informs Belshazzar that there was “a man in his kingdom in whom was the spirit of the holy gods, etc.” - from which it might be objected that Daniel was at that time unknown to the king, and could not have been in his employ, for it might have been a fact that he was in the employ of the king as an officer of the government, and yet it may have been forgotten that he had this power of disclosing the meaning of visions.

He may have been employed in the public service, but his services to the father of the king, and his extraordinary skill in interpreting dreams and visions may not at once have occurred to the affrighted monarch and his courtiers. Shushan, or Susa, the chief town of Susiana, was the capital of Persia after the time of Cyrus, in which the kings of Persia had their principal residence, Nehemiah 1:1; Esther 1:2-5. It was situated on the Eulaeus or Choaspes, probably on the spot now occupied by the village Shus. - Rennel, Geog. of Herodotus; Kinneir, Mem. Pers. Emp.; K. Porter’s Travels, ii. 4, 11; Ritter, Erdkunde, Asien, 9: 294; Pict. Bib. in loc. At Shus there are extensive ruins, stretching perhaps twelve miles from one extremity to the other, and consisting, like the other ruins in that country, of hillocks of earth, and rubbish, covered with broken, pieces of brick and colored tile. At the foot of these mounds is the so-called tomb of Daniel, a small building erected on the spot where the remains of Daniel are believed in that region to rest.

It is apparently modern, but nothing but the belief that this was the site of the prophet’s sepulchre could have led to its being built in the place where it stands - Malcolm, Hist. of Persia, i. 255, 256. The city of Shus is now a gloomy wilderness, inhabited by lions, hyenas, and other beasts of prey. - Kitto’s Cyclo., art. “Shushan.” Sir John Kinneir says that the dread of these animals compelled Mr. Monteith and himself to take shelter for the night within the walls that encompass Daniel’s tomb. Of that tomb Sir John Malcolm says, “It is a small building, but sufficient to shelter some dervishes who watch the remains of the prophet, and are supported by the alms of pious pilgrims, who visit the holy sepulchre. The dervishes are now the only inhabitants of Susa; and every species of wild beast roams at large over the spot on which some of the proudest palaces ever raised by human art once stood.” - Vol. i. pp. 255, 256. For a description of the ruins of Susa, see Pict. Bib. in loc. This city was about 450 Roman miles from Seleucia, and was built, according to Pliny, 6; 27, in a square of about 120 stadia. It was the summer residence of the Persian kings (Cyrop. 8, 6, 10), as they passed the spring in Ecbatana, and the autumn and winter in Babylon. See Lengerke, in loc. It was in this city that Alexander the Great married Stateira, daughter of Darius Codomanus. The name means a lily, and was probably given to it on account of its beauty - Lengerke. Rosenmuller supposes that the vision here is represented to have appeared to Daniel in this city because it would be the future capital of Persia, and because so much of the vision pertained to Persia. See Maurer, in loc.

In the palace - This word (בירה bı̂yrâh) means a fortress, a castle, a fortified palace. - Gesenius. See Nehemiah 1:1; Esther 1:5; Esther 2:5; Esther 8:14; Esther 9:6, Esther 9:11-12. It would seem to have been given to the city because it was a fortified place. The word applied not only to the palace proper, a royal residence, but to the whole adjacent city. It is not necessary to suppose that Daniel was in the palace proper, but only that he was in the city to which the name was given.

Which is in the province of Elam - See the notes at Isaiah 11:11. This province was bounded on the east by Persia Proper, on the west by Babylonia, on the north by Media, and on the south by the Persian Gulf. It was about half as large as Persia, and not quite as large as England. - Kitto’s Cyclo. It was probably conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, and in the time of Belshazzar was subject to the Babylonian dominion, Shushan had been doubtless the capital of the kingdom of Elam while it continued a separate kingdom, and remained the capital of the province while it was under the Babylonian yoke, and until it was subdued as a part of the empire by Cyrus. It was then made one of the capitals of the united Medo-Persian empire. It was when it was the capital of a province that it was visited by Daniel, and that he saw the vision there. Possibly he may have dwelt there subsequently, and died there.

And I was by the river of Ulai - This river flowed by the city of Shushan, or Susa, and fell into the united stream of the Tigris and the Euphrates. It is called by Pliny (Nat. Hist. vi. 81) Eulaeus; but it is described by Greek writers generally under the name of Choaspes. - Herod. v. 49; Strabo, xv. p. 728. It is now known by the name Kerah, called by the Turks Karasu. It passes on the west of the ruins of Shus (Susa), and enters the Shat-ul-Arab about twenty miles below Korna. - Kinneir, Geog. Mem. of the Persian Empire, pp. 96, 97. See Kitto’s Cyclo., art. “Ulai”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Daniel 8:2. I saw in a vision — Daniel was at this time in Shushan, which appears to have been a strong place, where the kings of Persia had their summer residence. It was the capital of the province of Elam or the Elymais; which province was most probably added to the Chaldean territories by Nebuchadnezzar; see Jeremiah 49:34-35. Here was Daniel's ordinary residence; and though here at this time, he, in vision, saw himself on the banks of the river Ulai. This is the same as the river Euleus, which divided Shushan or Susiana from Elymais.