Grammar Analysis: Daniel 8:15–16 (Gabriel Commissioned)¶

Context-neutral passage analysis. This entry describes the Hebrew morphology and clause architecture of Daniel 8:15–16 — the hinge verses that close Daniel's narrative witness of the 2,300-evening-morning oracle (vv. 13–14) and open the angelic commissioning block (vv. 16–26). The two verses introduce the interpreter-figure Gabriel and command understanding of the marʾeh. They are the pivot where three features converge: (a) the perception-vocabulary alternation between ḥāzôn and marʾeh, (b) the introduction of Gabriel as named interpreter, and (c) the Hiphil imperative of בין initiating Daniel's instruction.

Five grammatical features drive the analysis:

Compound wayhî + bə-infinitive-construct temporal frame — v.15 opens with wa-yhî bi-rʾōṯî ʾănî Dāniyyēʾl ʾeṯ-he-ḥāzôn ("and it was, when I saw, I Daniel, the vision"), nesting a subordinate infinitive-construct clause inside the wayhî macro-syntactic opener. This is the canonical Danielic vision-framing pattern (cf. 8:2; 9:21; 10:7).
Piel wayyiqtol 1cs with paragogic-ה — wā-ʾăḇaqšāh ḇînāh ("and I earnestly sought understanding"). The Piel stem of בקשׁ intensifies the Qal "seek" into deliberate pursuit; the paragogic-ה is Danielic long-form 1cs wayq (cf. 8:13 וָאֶשְׁמְעָה, 8:17 וָאֶפְּלָה).
The marʾeh/chazon lexical switch — v.15 couples he-ḥāzôn (object of seeing, accusative with ʾeṯ) with kə-marʾēh ḡāḇer (construct simile describing the standing figure); v.16 names ham-marʾeh (definite direct object) as the thing Gabriel is to explain. The two nouns are not interchangeable: ḥāzôn = the whole prophetic-vision complex; marʾeh = the specific visible element seen. This distribution is decisive for interpreting vv. 17–26.
Hiphil imperative 2ms הָבֵן with prepositional-dative addressee — hāḇēn lə-hallāz ʾeṯ-ham-marʾeh ("make this-one understand the marʾeh") — Hiphil (causative) of בין addressed to Gabriel about Daniel (the demonstrative pronoun הַלָּז as the one-to-be-instructed) with the marʾeh as the direct object (ʾeṯ-marker).
Hēnnēh + active participle presentative construction — wə-hinnēh ʿōmēḏ ləneḡdî kə-marʾēh ḡāḇer ("and behold, standing before me like the appearance of a mighty man") — the classic vision-report presentative pattern (hinneh + Qal ptca) introducing a new visible referent without finite verb.

Text¶

Daniel 8:15 (Hebrew, ETCBC/BHSA):

וַיְהִ֗י בִּרְאֹתִ֛י אֲנִ֥י דָנִיֵּ֖אל אֶת־הֶחָזֹ֑ון וָאֲבַקְשָׁ֣ה בִינָ֔ה וְהִנֵּ֛ה עֹמֵ֥ד לְנֶגְדִּ֖י כְּמַרְאֵה־גָֽבֶר׃

KJV: 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.

Daniel 8:16 (Hebrew, ETCBC/BHSA):

וָאֶשְׁמַ֥ע קֹול־אָדָ֖ם בֵּ֣ין אוּלָ֑י וַיִּקְרָא֙ וַיֹּאמַ֔ר גַּבְרִיאֵ֕ל הָבֵ֥ן לְהַלָּ֖ז אֶת־הַמַּרְאֶֽה׃

KJV: And I heard a man's voice between [the banks of] Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this [man] to understand the vision.

Word-by-Word Parsing¶

Daniel 8:15¶

#	Hebrew	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	וַ	ו	Conj	and
2	יְהִי	היה	Verb.Qal.Wayq.3ms	it was / it came to pass
3	בִּ	ב	Prep	in / when
4	רְאֹתִי	ראה	Verb.Qal.InfCon.+1cs	my seeing
5	אֲנִי	אני	PersPron.1s	I
6	דָנִיֵּאל	דניאל	PropN.ms.Abs	Daniel
7	אֶת	את	Prep (obj marker)	—
8	הֶ	ה	Art	the
9	חָזוֹן	חזון	Noun.ms.Abs	vision (H2377)
10	וָ	ו	Conj	and
11	אֲבַקְשָׁה	בקשׁ	Verb.Piel.Wayq.1cs (paragogic-ה)	I sought (earnestly)
12	בִינָה	בינה	Noun.fs.Abs	understanding / discernment
13	וְ	ו	Conj	and
14	הִנֵּה	הנה	Interj	behold
15	עֹמֵד	עמד	Verb.Qal.Ptcp.ms.Abs	(one) standing
16	לְ	ל	Prep	to / before
17	נֶגְדִּי	נגד	Noun.ms.Abs.+1cs	opposite / counterpart-me
18	כְּ	כ	Prep	as / like
19	מַרְאֵה	מראה	Noun.ms.Cst	sight / appearance of (H4758)
20	גָבֶר	גבר	Noun.ms.Abs	mighty man / strong male (H1397)

Daniel 8:16¶

#	Hebrew	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	וָ	ו	Conj	and
2	אֶשְׁמַע	שׁמע	Verb.Qal.Wayq.1cs	I heard
3	קֹול	קול	Noun.ms.Cst	voice / sound of
4	אָדָם	אדם	Noun.ms.Abs	human / man
5	בֵּין	בין	Noun.ms.Cst (preposition-like)	between / interval of
6	אוּלָי	אולי	PropN.s.Abs	Ulai (river)
7	וַ	ו	Conj	and
8	יִּקְרָא	קרא	Verb.Qal.Wayq.3ms	he called
9	וַ	ו	Conj	and
10	יֹּאמַר	אמר	Verb.Qal.Wayq.3ms	he said
11	גַּבְרִיאֵל	גבריאל	PropN.ms.Abs	Gabriel
12	הָבֵן	בין	Verb.Hiphil.Impv.2ms	make-understand!
13	לְ	ל	Prep	to / for
14	הַ	ה	Art	the
15	לָּז	לז	DemPron.s	this-one / yonder one
16	אֶת	את	Prep (obj marker)	—
17	הַ	ה	Art	the
18	מַּרְאֶה	מראה	Noun.ms.Abs	sight / vision (H4758)

Parser-verified via hebrew_parser.py --verse "Dan 8:15" and --verse "Dan 8:16".

Clause Structure (ETCBC/BHSA)¶

Daniel 8:15 — 4 clauses¶

#	Type	Domain	Text	Function
1	Way0 (wayyiqtol)	N (narration)	וַיְהִי	Macro-syntactic narrative opener "and it was"
2	InfC	N	בִּרְאֹתִי אֲנִי דָנִיֵּאל אֶת־הֶחָזוֹן	Subordinate temporal: Qal.InfCon of ראה + 1cs suffix-subject + emphatic appositional ʾănî dāniyyēʾl + accusative object "the vision"
3	Way0	N	וָאֲבַקְשָׁה בִינָה	Wayyiqtol 1cs Piel (paragogic-ה) with object "understanding"
4	Ptcp	N	וְהִנֵּה עֹמֵד לְנֶגְדִּי כְּמַרְאֵה־גָבֶר	Presentative participle clause: Conj+Intj (hinneh) + predicate-complement Qal ptca עֹמֵד + locative complement + comparative adjunct

Daniel 8:16 — 5 clauses¶

#	Type	Domain	Text	Function
1	Way0	N	וָאֶשְׁמַע קוֹל־אָדָם בֵּין אוּלָי	Wayyiqtol 1cs Qal of שׁמע with direct object (construct chain) + locative "between Ulai"
2	Way0	N	וַיִּקְרָא	Wayyiqtol 3ms of קרא — "and he called"
3	Way0	N	וַיֹּאמַר	Wayyiqtol 3ms of אמר — "and he said" (introducing direct speech)
4	Voct	Q (quotation)	גַּבְרִיאֵל	Vocative — direct address to Gabriel
5	ZIm0 (zero-imperative)	Q	הָבֵן לְהַלָּז אֶת־הַמַּרְאֶה	Imperative clause: Hiphil.Impv.2ms predicate + prepositional-dative complement (הַלָּז = the indirect-object "this one") + accusative object (הַמַּרְאֶה)

Parser-verified via hebrew_parser.py --clause "Dan 8:15" and --clause "Dan 8:16".

Construct Chains¶

Verse	Construct	Absolute	Gloss
v.15	מַרְאֵה	גָבֶר	"appearance of a mighty man" — indefinite construct chain (both unarticled), hence "a gever-like appearance" rather than "the appearance of the gever"
v.16	קוֹל	אָדָם	"voice of a man" — indefinite construct, "a human voice" (not "the voice of the man")
v.16	בֵּין	אוּלָי	"between Ulai" — בֵּין functions as a preposition governing the proper noun; ETCBC tags בֵּין as Noun.ms.Cst morphologically, but syntactically it is the standard "between" preposition

Parser-verified via hebrew_parser.py --construct "Dan 8:15" and --construct "Dan 8:16".

Indefiniteness of כְּמַרְאֵה־גָבֶר. Both nouns in v.15 are absolute-without-article, so the chain is morphologically indefinite: "like an appearance of a gever." This is not the titular definite ("the appearance of the man"), as contrasted with v.26 מַרְאֵה הָעֶרֶב וְהַבֹּקֶר where both absolutes are articled. V.15's comparative particle כְּ ("like, as") further softens the identification: Daniel does not say "a gever stood" but "one stood, like a gever-appearance." The grammar marks a visual simile, not a definite identification.

Key Grammatical Features¶

1. וַיְהִי + בִּרְאֹתִי — The wayhî-InfCon temporal frame¶

Morphology. - וַיְהִי — Verb.Qal.Wayq.3ms of היה; the canonical narrative-opener "and it came to pass." - בִּרְאֹתִי — Prep בְּ + Qal.InfCon of ראה + 1cs pronominal suffix as logical subject. This is the standard BH temporal-subordinate construction: בְּ + infinitive-construct with suffixed subject = "when/while I saw" (Joüon §124; Waltke-O'Connor §36.2.2b).

Function. The wayhî opener + bə-InfCon subordinate forms a two-clause temporal wrapping: macro-syntactic frame (clause 1, "and it was") + subordinate "when"-clause (clause 2, "when I was seeing the vision"). This is Daniel's signature vision-hinge pattern. Compare:

Dan 8:2 wā-ʾereh ba-ḥāzôn wa-yhî bi-rʾōṯî — same structure, reversed order, opening the vision itself.
Dan 9:21 wə-ʿôḏ ʾănî məḏabbēr…wə-hāʾîš Gaḇrîʾēl ʾăšer rāʾîṯî ḇe-ḥāzôn ba-ttəḥillâ muʿāp̄ bîʿāp̄ nōḡēaʿ ʾēlay kə-ʿēṯ minḥaṯ-ʿāreḇ — Gabriel-returns frame, same "while I was speaking" temporal nesting.
Dan 10:7 wə-rāʾîṯî ʾănî Dāniyyēʾl ləḇaddî — with emphatic ʾănî Dāniyyēʾl (same as 8:15).

The emphatic apposition אֲנִי דָנִיֵּאל (ʾănî Dāniyyēʾl, "I, Daniel") is casus pendens / left-dislocation of the pronominal-subject of the infinitive-construct (Joüon-Muraoka §177). It is semantically redundant (the 1cs suffix on בִּרְאֹתִי already encodes the subject), but pragmatically it places the seer's identity in focus — a personal authentication marker. Daniel uses this form at 7:15, 8:1, 8:15, 9:2, 10:2, 10:7, 12:5 as a first-person authentication/signature.

See vision-introduction-formulas for the full canonical distribution of the wayhî-seeing-frame across the Hebrew Bible.

2. וָאֲבַקְשָׁה בִינָה — Piel intensification and paragogic-ה wayyiqtol¶

Morphology. - וָאֲבַקְשָׁה — Conj + Piel.Wayq.1cs of בקשׁ (H1245) with paragogic ה (long-form 1cs wayq — the -āh ending rather than bare 1cs wayq vowel pattern). See parser output: Verb.Piel.Wayq.1s. - בִינָה — Noun.fs.Abs of בינה (H998) "understanding, discernment." Not a verb form — ETCBC tags it Noun.fs.Abs. It is cognate to the verb בין (H995) but is the substantive noun.

The Piel force. The Qal of בקשׁ is not attested in Biblical Hebrew (the root occurs ~225× but always in Piel); the Piel is the lexical base-stem for this root, meaning "seek, look for, pursue, require." See H995-biyn for the related cognitive root (the verb "to understand," not the noun "understanding").

While the Piel here is not contrastively intensified vs. a Qal counterpart (because no Qal exists), the stem itself carries an inherent volitional/deliberative sense — active pursuit rather than passive reception. Compare the parallel construction with דרשׁ (H1875, "seek, inquire") which has both Qal "seek-after" and Piel "search-out intensively." The choice of בקשׁ (Piel) over דרשׁ (Qal) registers deliberate inquiry — Daniel is actively seeking to grasp what he has just seen, not merely waiting for revelation.

The paragogic-ה wayyiqtol. BH 1cs wayyiqtol has two forms: - Short: וָאֶבְקֵשׁ (1cs wayq with characteristic-vowel pattern but no suffix) — the bare form. - Long (paragogic): וָאֲבַקְשָׁה (same stem with appended -āh) — the cohortative-like extended form.

The long-form wayyiqtol is a Danielic stylistic feature — especially concentrated in first-person vision-reports. See parser-verified examples in the chapter: - Dan 8:13 וָאֶשְׁמְעָה ("and I heard") — long-form Qal.Wayq.1s of שׁמע. - Dan 8:15 וָאֲבַקְשָׁה (this verse) — long-form Piel.Wayq.1s of בקשׁ. - Dan 8:17 וָאֶפְּלָה ("and I fell") — long-form Qal.Wayq.1s of נפל. - Dan 10:16, 10:19 recurrent.

The paragogic-ה is not simply stylistic; it frequently marks first-person volition/emotive-coloration (Waltke-O'Connor §31.7.1). The seer is both reporting the event and communicating his internal engagement with it. In v.15 the -āh marks Daniel's seeking as intentional and heartfelt, not merely sequential-narrative.

Object בִינָה. The direct object of the seeking is the noun "understanding" — Daniel does not seek the vision (he has already seen it per clause 2), but its interpretation. This sets up the precise need that v.16's Hiphil הָבֵן (same root בין as the noun בִינָה) is sent to supply. The wordplay is deliberate: Daniel seeks ḇînâ, and Gabriel is commanded to hāḇēn — "cause to understand" — with the marʾeh as direct object of the causing-to-understand.

3. וְהִנֵּה עֹמֵד לְנֶגְדִּי כְּמַרְאֵה־גָבֶר — The hinneh + participle presentative¶

Morphology. - וְהִנֵּה — Conj + Interj הנה "behold." The waw + hinneh combination marks a presentative — a visual/narrative pointing gesture introducing a new referent into the discourse. - עֹמֵד — Qal active participle masc.sg.Abs of עמד "stand." Unarticled and subject-less — the hinneh supplies the pragmatic pointer and the participle supplies the predicate. - לְנֶגְדִּי — Prep לְ + Noun.ms.Abs of נגד "in-front-of, opposite" + 1cs suffix → "before me, facing me, over-against me." - כְּמַרְאֵה־גָבֶר — Prep כְּ ("as, like") + construct chain (see §Construct Chains above).

Function. The hinneh + ptca pattern is BH's standard vision-presentative — introducing a new figure into the visionary scene without finite verb. The participle is stative/imperfective — the figure is standing, an ongoing state Daniel observes. Examples:

Zech 1:8 רָאִיתִי הַלַּיְלָה וְהִנֵּה־אִישׁ רֹכֵב עַל־סוּס אָדֹם ("I saw in the night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse").
Gen 28:12 וַיַּחֲלֹם וְהִנֵּה סֻלָּם מֻצָּב אַרְצָה ("and he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth").
Dan 10:5 וָאֶשָּׂא אֶת־עֵינַי וָאֵרֶא וְהִנֵּה אִישׁ־אֶחָד לָבוּשׁ בַּדִּים ("I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold a certain man clothed in linen").

The participle's subject is typically the thing-just-beheld — grammatically recoverable from the hinneh-pointing rather than from explicit syntax. Here the referent is introduced immediately as the indefinite simile "like a gever-appearance" (כְּמַרְאֵה־גָבֶר); v.16 will name him as Gabriel.

Lexical note: גָבֶר vs. אִישׁ vs. אָדָם. Hebrew has three principal "man"-words: - אָדָם (H120) — generic human, often with species/creaturely connotation (used in v.16 קוֹל־אָדָם). - אִישׁ (H376) — male individual, the default "a man" (used extensively in Daniel 10). - גֶּבֶר (H1397) — strong/mighty male, warrior-class, often with connotation of virility or valor (from גבר "be strong"). This is the rarer, marked term.

The choice of gever in v.15 — rather than אִישׁ — signals virile/mighty quality in the figure's appearance, consistent with Gabriel's name (גַּבְרִיאֵל = gever + ʾēl, "mighty-man of God" or "God is my hero"). The grammar itself marks a name-echo: Daniel sees "one-like-a-gever" and immediately hears God call him "Gabri-el." See WG-man for the distribution and registers of the three terms.

4. The marʾeh / chazon distribution in vv. 15, 16 — and its continuation through v. 27¶

The decisive observation. Verses 15–16 initiate a deliberate two-term vocabulary split that runs through the remainder of Dan 8. The same chapter uses both ḥāzôn (H2377) and marʾeh (H4758) — words that in many biblical contexts are interchangeable and both rendered "vision" in English — with a grammatically-traceable differentiation. The word studies H2377-chazon and H4758-mareh document this distinction; dan-8-26 §1 works it out in detail. This entry traces how vv. 15–16 set up the pattern.

The chapter's distribution (parser-verified lemmata):

Verse	Hebrew	Lemma	Function
8:1	חָזוֹן נִרְאָה אֵלַי	חזון (×2)	the vision as a whole — opening superscription
8:2	וָאֶרְאֶה בֶּחָזוֹן / כְּמַרְאֶה	חזון (×2) + מראה	location-in-the-vision-complex + first specifying marʾeh
8:13	עַד־מָתַי הֶחָזוֹן	חזון	subject of the "how-long" question — the whole vision
8:15	אֶת־הֶחָזוֹן + כְּמַרְאֵה־גָבֶר	חזון + מראה	object of seeing + comparative simile for the standing figure
8:16	אֶת־הַמַּרְאֶה	מראה	direct object of "make-understand" — the thing to be explained
8:17	לְעֶת־קֵץ הֶחָזוֹן	חזון	the whole vision is for the time-of-end
8:26	מַרְאֵה הָעֶרֶב וְהַבֹּקֶר + סְתֹם הֶחָזוֹן	מראה + חזון	the specific evening-morning marʾeh authenticated + the whole chazon sealed
8:27	הַמַּרְאֶה וְאֵין מֵבִין	מראה	Daniel was astonished at the marʾeh and there was no understander

The pattern. Within Dan 8, chazon consistently labels the whole vision-prophecy complex — the macro-revelation opened in v.1 and sealed in v.26b. Marʾeh consistently labels a specific visible element within that complex — the standing-figure (v.15), the thing-to-be-explained (v.16), the evening-morning oracle (v.26a), and the unresolved revelation that remains opaque (v.27). The switch in v.16 from chazon (which Gabriel could interpret if commanded) to marʾeh (which is what he is explicitly commanded to explain) is grammatically significant:

The voice between Ulai does not command Gabriel to explain he-ḥāzôn (the whole vision); it commands him to explain ham-marʾeh (the specific visible element).
The interpretation Gabriel proceeds to give in vv. 17–25 therefore has a delimited object — the marʾeh — not the entire chazon.
V.26a confirms this by re-using marʾeh for the specific evening-morning oracle, while using chazon for the sealing command (applied to the whole).
V.27 closes the chapter with Daniel's astonishment at the marʾeh — the specific element whose understanding Gabriel's explanation has not yet fully supplied.

What is "the marʾeh" in Dan 8? The grammar of v.16 (ʾeṯ-ham-marʾeh, definite direct object) presupposes an already-identified referent. Two candidates from the prior text are grammatically available:

(a) The figure just introduced in v.15 kə-marʾēh ḡāḇer — the "gever-appearance" Daniel has just seen standing. Reading (a) makes v.16 self-reflexive: the voice commands Gabriel to make Daniel understand himself (the gever-appearance). This is grammatically workable but interpretively strained — Daniel doesn't need explanation of who the standing one is; he needs explanation of the oracle.
(b) The 2,300 evening-mornings oracle of v.14, retrospectively identified as marʾeh in v.26a (u-marʾēh hā-ʿereḇ wə-hab-bōqer ʾăšer neʾĕmar). Reading (b) treats v.16's ham-marʾeh as prospectively-definite, anticipating v.26a's explicit titular use. This is the dominant reading in commentaries and is supported by v.26a's retrospective identification.

Both readings can be held compatibly: the figure (gever/Gabriel) needs no explanation, but the content of what Daniel has just seen — the climactic "unto 2,300 evening-mornings, then shall the holy one be vindicated" — does. Gabriel's subsequent speech in vv. 17–25 focuses on the ram/goat/little-horn sequence and their terminus at the קֵץ — which is precisely the question raised by v.14's number. Thus Gabriel's explanation of ham-marʾeh targets the temporal-and-agent content of the 2,300-oracle, even while the full disclosure awaits Dan 9:21–27 (where Gabriel returns, explicitly to supply what was not yet fully unsealed — see dan-9-24-27).

Caveat: the chazon/marʾeh distinction is not rigid across the whole Hebrew Bible. See H4758-mareh §5 and H2377-chazon §"Easily Confused Words": in general usage, marʾeh covers physical beauty, priestly inspection, theophanic appearances, AND prophetic visions; chazon is narrower (prophetic revelation exclusively). What makes Dan 8's distribution distinctive is its intra-chapter systematicity — the chapter deploys the two terms with a structural distinction even though their general semantic fields overlap. This is not a lexicon-level distinction but a discourse-level one.

5. הָבֵן לְהַלָּז אֶת־הַמַּרְאֶה — Hiphil imperative with prepositional-dative addressee¶

Morphology. - הָבֵן — Qal.Hiphil.Impv.2ms of בין (H995). The Hiphil of בין has the distinctive hā- prefix + short-i second-syllable pattern characteristic of hollow-root Hiphil imperatives (Joüon §80p; GKC §72). See parser: Verb.Hiphil.Impv.2ms. - לְ — Prep; with personal pronominal complement, functions as the dative of the indirect-object recipient ("to this-one"). - הַלָּז — demonstrative pronoun (lemma לז, H1975 or variant), masc.sg, "this one, yonder one." The definite-article הַ is orthographically attached but is part of the pronoun's form (hal-lāz is the fused article+pronoun form; cf. הַלָּזֶה, הַלֵּזוּ). The demonstrative is proximal/deictic — "that one there," typically with a physical-pointing context. - אֶת־הַמַּרְאֶה — accusative-marker + article + Noun.ms.Abs of מראה (H4758).

The Hiphil causative force. The Qal of בין = "discern, perceive, understand" (see word study for full range). The Hiphil is causative: "cause to understand / make understand / inform" — exactly parallel to Hebrew's standard Hiphil causative pattern (ידע Qal "know" → Hiphil "make-known"; ראה Qal "see" → Hiphil "show"; בוא Qal "come" → Hiphil "bring"). See stem-hiphil and hiphil-imperfect for the full taxonomy.

The Hiphil imperative הָבֵן is standardly addressed to a cognitive-agent who is to enable another's understanding. In Dan 8, the command goes:

8:16 הָבֵן לְהַלָּז אֶת־הַמַּרְאֶה — voice → Gabriel, with Daniel as indirect-object ("to this-one") and marʾeh as direct object.
8:17 הָבֵן בֶּן־אָדָם — Gabriel → Daniel, as vocative-addressed command (no indirect-object; Daniel himself is the cognizer).

The shift in addressee between v.16 and v.17 is grammatically tracked: v.16 is 2ms Hiphil spoken to Gabriel about Daniel; v.17 is 2ms Hiphil spoken to Daniel directly. See dan-8-17-19 §5 for analysis of v.17's use.

The demonstrative הַלָּז. This is a rare form (occurring ~11× in the Hebrew Bible: Gen 24:65; 37:19; Judg 6:20; 1 Sam 14:1, 17:26; 2 Kgs 4:25, 23:17; Ezek 36:35; Dan 8:16; Zech 2:8 [Eng 2:4]; Ps 104:25 as zeh). It carries a deictic-pointing force: "that one, yonder one, the one over there." The form signals physical visibility — the addressee is being pointed to, not merely referred to. In Dan 8:16, the voice points to Daniel from across the Ulai, singling him out as the recipient of understanding.

The three-part structure of the imperative clause is:

Syntactic role	Element	Referent
Predicate (Hiphil causative)	הָבֵן	the "make-understand" action commanded of Gabriel
Dative indirect-object	לְהַלָּז	Daniel (the one-to-be-taught)
Accusative direct-object	אֶת־הַמַּרְאֶה	the content to be explained

The prepositional-dative addressee construction (ל + indirect-object pronoun) is standard for Hebrew causatives whose direct-object is the information/thing conveyed and whose recipient is human. Cognate patterns:

Dan 9:22 הֵבִין לְהַשְׂכִּיל לְךָ בִינָה (Hiphil inf.abs. + Hiphil inf.cst. + dative לְךָ + direct-object בִינָה) — "he instructed [me], to give you understanding."
Dan 10:14 לַהֲבִינְךָ — same Hiphil root with pronominal suffix direct-object ("to make you understand").

6. קוֹל־אָדָם בֵּין אוּלָי — Disembodied voice between the Ulai banks¶

Morphology. - קוֹל־אָדָם — construct chain (Noun.ms.Cst + Noun.ms.Abs) "voice of (a) man" — indefinite, generic "a human voice." - בֵּין — Noun.ms.Cst "between" — functioning as preposition. ETCBC tags it Noun.ms.Cst morphologically (it is etymologically a noun, but syntactically a preposition). - אוּלָי — PropN.s.Abs "Ulai" (the river that forms the setting of the vision — cf. 8:2 עַל־אוּבַל אוּלָי "by the Ulai canal").

The locative puzzle. בֵּין ("between") typically governs two nouns ("between X and Y"), but here it governs only one — Ulai. The KJV supplies "between [the banks of] Ulai" to capture the sense. Three grammatical options:

(a) Ellipsis of coordinate: between [this bank and that bank] of Ulai — an elided pair whose second element is recoverable from the river-geography.
(b) Locative extension: בֵּין אוּלָי = "in the middle of Ulai" — bēn as an intensive locative, "right-in-the-midst-of."
(c) Dual implicit: the Ulai has two banks inherently, and בֵּין governs the implicit dual — "between the (two banks of) Ulai."

All three are grammatically workable; the visual picture is the same: the voice speaks from the middle of the river (or from one bank projecting to the other). The effect is theophanic — the voice is not in Daniel's spatial vicinity but across or within the river.

Agent-suppression of the voice. The construct chain qôl-ʾāḏām names the voice as "human-sounding" but suppresses the speaker's identity. The speaker is never grammatically named — subsequent 3ms verbs (wa-yyiqrāʾ wa-yyōʾmar, v.16) bind to an unexpressed subject that the narrative leaves anonymous. Is it (a) God, (b) the "prince of the host" of v.11/25, (c) another unnamed heavenly voice, or (d) the gever/Gabriel himself (in which case he would be commanding his own task)? The grammar is silent. The authoritative nature of the voice is implied by its ability to command Gabriel (named angelic figure), but the speaker's identity is withheld.

This pattern — authoritative voice commanding a named angel, speaker unidentified — parallels Dan 12:6–7 (the voice speaking to "the man clothed in linen" above the waters) and Rev 10:4, 10:8, 11:1 (voices from heaven commanding John). Grammatically, the suppression of the speaker-subject is a feature, not a gap: it prevents the reader from localizing authority in a named intermediary.

7. The auditory/visual parallel: v.15 seeing → v.16 hearing¶

The two verses form a matched sensory diptych:

v.15 (seeing)	v.16 (hearing)
וָאֶשְׁמְעָה (elided — implicit from ch.)	וָאֶשְׁמַע "and I heard"
וַיְהִי בִּרְאֹתִי "when I saw"
אֶת־הֶחָזוֹן (object of sight: the whole chazon)	קוֹל־אָדָם (object of hearing: a human voice)
וָאֲבַקְשָׁה בִינָה (sought understanding — 1cs action)	הָבֵן לְהַלָּז (command to make-understand — delegated to Gabriel)
וְהִנֵּה עֹמֵד (visual presentative — the gever-appearance)	וַיִּקְרָא וַיֹּאמַר (auditory narrative — calling + speaking)
כְּמַרְאֵה־גָבֶר (indefinite simile)	גַּבְרִיאֵל (definite proper name)

V.15 is predominantly visual + introspective ("I saw, I sought"); v.16 is predominantly auditory + commissioning ("I heard, the voice called"). The two verses together deliver the full bilateral commissioning: Daniel sees the interpreter-figure, and hears the authoritative voice that commissions him.

The marʾeh/chazon switch tracks this transition: what Daniel saw was the whole chazon (v.15a); what Gabriel is commissioned to explain is the specific marʾeh (v.16c). The act of seeing encompasses the entire vision-complex; the act of understanding targets the specific content.

Discourse Integration¶

Placement in Dan 8¶

Section	Content	Grammatical spine
8:1–2	Setting of the vision	Niphal perf. + wayhî bi-rʾōṯî + Qal.Wayq chain
8:3–8	Ram + goat vision	Qal wayyiqtol foreground chain
8:9–12	Little-horn expansion	Qal perf. + weqatal + Hiphil impf.
8:13–14	2,300 evening-mornings Q&A	Wayyiqtol dialogue frame + Niphal perf. resolution (see dan-8-13-14-dialogue)
8:15	Daniel seeks understanding; gever-figure appears	wayhî + bə-InfCon + Piel.Wayq + hinneh + ptca
8:16	Voice names Gabriel; commands explanation of marʾeh	Wayq.1cs (heard) + Wayq.3ms chain (call/say) + Vocative + Hiphil.Impv.2ms
8:17–19	Gabriel approaches; Daniel falls; angelic address with eth qets (see dan-8-17-19)	Wayq + WxQ0 backgrounding + InfC + Hiphil.Impv. הָבֵן
8:20–25	Interpretation of ram/goat/horn (see dan-8-23-25)	x-yiqtol + weqatal predictive prose
8:26	Authentication + sealing formula (see dan-8-26)	NmCl + Qal.Impv. + NmCl
8:27	Daniel's collapse; "no understander"	Wayq narrative resumption + verbless coda וְאֵין מֵבִין

V.15 opens the interpretation-block. V.16 names the interpreter and specifies the object of interpretation. The two verses thus function as the pivot between the vision (seen but not understood, vv. 1–14) and the interpretation (commissioned but partially deferred, vv. 17–26).

Repetition of the Hiphil imperative הָבֵן¶

The verb בין in Hiphil imperative recurs three times in the Dan 8–9 complex, and the repetition tracks Gabriel's commissioned task:

8:16 הָבֵן לְהַלָּז אֶת־הַמַּרְאֶה — voice commands Gabriel to make Daniel understand the marʾeh.
8:17 הָבֵן בֶּן־אָדָם — Gabriel commands Daniel to understand, addressing him as "son of man."
9:23 (continuation via cognate inf.cst. לְהַשְׂכִּילְךָ) — Gabriel returns in Dan 9 to supply what 8:16's command did not complete: "I am now come to give you understanding."

The 8:27 coda wə-ʾên mēḇîn ("and there was no understander"; Qal.Ptcp of בין) grammatically acknowledges that the v.16 command was not fully executed within ch.8 — preparing for Gabriel's return in Dan 9 with the cognate roots שׂכל and בין in repeated Hiphil form. See dan-9-2-jeremiah-reading and dan-9-24-27 for the continuation.

What the Grammar Constrains vs. Leaves Open¶

The grammar constrains:

V.15's chazon is the whole vision complex (anaphoric to 8:1).
V.15's gever-appearance is introduced indefinitely via a comparative simile — Daniel sees "one like a gever," not "the gever."
V.16's marʾeh is definite (articulated) and is a specific object distinct from the whole chazon — it is what Gabriel is commissioned to explain.
The voice in v.16 is grammatically anonymous — its authority is presupposed but its identity is unexpressed.
Gabriel is commissioned with a Hiphil causative imperative, indicating that the explanation is his specific task (not just a general utterance Daniel overhears).
The Hiphil הָבֵן answers Daniel's Piel בקשׁ בִינָה — the voice hears Daniel's seeking and dispatches an interpreter.

The grammar leaves open:

The specific referent of ham-marʾeh in v.16 — whether it is the just-seen gever (reading a) or the 2,300-oracle (reading b, supported by v.26a's retrospective identification). Both readings are grammatically licensed.
The identity of the voice between the Ulai — God, an unnamed heavenly figure, or another angelic speaker.
Whether the gever-appearance of v.15 is the same figure as Gabriel named in v.16 (the indefinite simile + the name-echo gever/Gabri-el strongly suggests yes, but the text does not grammatically assert the identity; it merely juxtaposes them).
The degree to which Gabriel's subsequent speech in vv. 17–25 constitutes full execution of the v.16 command vs. partial execution completed only in Dan 9:22–27. The grammar permits either reading; the 8:27 coda wə-ʾên mēḇîn and the 9:22–23 resumption chain favor the partial-execution reading.

Cross-References¶

Grammar library¶

vision-introduction-formulas — wayhî + bə-InfCon seeing-frame; ʾănî Dāniyyēʾl emphatic apposition; hinneh + ptca presentative
stem-hiphil — Hiphil causative as the lexical base for "cause-to-understand" (הָבֵן)
hiphil-imperfect — Hiphil paradigm and function
imperative-mood — imperative morphology and addressee-construction
syntax-waw-conjunction — waw + hinneh presentative pattern

Passage library (Daniel 8 cluster)¶

dan-8-13-14-dialogue — the Q&A dialogue that v.15–16 pivots away from; also raises the chazon/marʾeh question via the question's subject הֶחָזוֹן
dan-8-14 — v.14 baseline: the 2,300-evening-morning oracle that v.16's ham-marʾeh most plausibly references
dan-8-17-19 — Gabriel's direct address to Daniel immediately after v.16; second Hiphil הָבֵן (v.17) addressed to Daniel as ben-adam
dan-8-23-25 — Gabriel's interpretation of the ram/goat/horn; execution of the v.16 command re: the ḥāzôn-narrative elements
dan-8-26 — authentication + sealing; retrospective titular marʾēh hā-ʿereḇ wə-hab-bōqer confirming the v.16 marʾeh referent
dan-9-2-jeremiah-reading — Daniel's Dan-9 continuation after the partial-explanation of Dan 8
dan-9-24-27 — Gabriel's return, explicit resumption of the Dan 8:16 commission

Word studies (shared library)¶

H4758-mareh — "sight / appearance / vision" (v.15 simile; v.16 direct object)
H2377-chazon — "vision" — the whole-vision term (v.15 direct object)
TR-mareh-opsis — LXX/NT mapping of מַרְאֶה
TR-chazon-horasis — LXX/NT mapping of חָזוֹן
H995-biyn — "understand / discern" — the root of both Daniel's Piel-noun object (בִינָה) and Gabriel's Hiphil imperative (הָבֵן)

Gaps (no entry yet — candidates for future study)¶

H1245 בקשׁ — "seek, search out, require" (v.15 וָאֲבַקְשָׁה; inherently Piel)
H1397 גֶּבֶר — "mighty man, strong male, warrior" (v.15 כְּמַרְאֵה־גָבֶר; contrasts with אִישׁ and אָדָם; name-root for Gaḇrîʾēl)
H1975 הַלָּז — "this/yonder one" (rare demonstrative; 11× HB; deictic-pointing force)
H1096 גַּבְרִיאֵל — named angel (Dan 8:16; 9:21; only 2× HB; cf. Luke 1:19, 26)
H998 בִּינָה — "understanding" (nominal cognate of H995; 38× HB)
H1056 בֵּין — "between" (preposition/noun hybrid; its locative use with single noun as in bên ʾÛlāy)
H196 אוּלָי — "Ulai" (river; Dan 8:2, 16 only)
passage entry for Dan 9:21–23 (Gabriel's explicit return; cognate הֵבִין vocabulary; completion of the 8:16 commission)

Note on the Central Exegetical Question: What does Gabriel explain in vv. 17–26?¶

The grammar of vv. 15–16 delimits the commissioned task by lexical-semantic choice:

V.16 specifies ham-marʾeh (not he-chazon) as direct object of הָבֵן.
V.26a retrospectively identifies the marʾeh as hā-ʿereḇ wə-hab-bōqer — the evening-morning oracle.
V.26b then commands sealing of he-chazon (the whole) — because its full disclosure awaits yāmîm rabbîm.
V.27 records Daniel's astonishment at ham-marʾeh — the specific element still unresolved.

This lexical pattern — when read with the grammatical distinction — strongly supports the reading that Gabriel's vv. 17–25 speech explains the narrative-sequence portion of the chazon (ram = Media-Persia, goat = Greece, little-horn career) while the specific numeric terminus (2,300 evening-mornings, the marʾeh proper) remains partially sealed until Dan 9:21–27.

The grammar does not prove this reading (both (a) and (b) are grammatically available for ham-marʾeh), but the cumulative evidence: 1. V.16's lexical choice of marʾeh where chazon was available, 2. V.26a's titular retrospective use of marʾeh for the evening-morning oracle specifically, 3. V.27's "no understander" coda despite vv. 17–25's interpretation, 4. Dan 9:21–23's explicit resumption (הַמַּרְאֶה בַּתְּחִלָּה "the vision at the first"),

— jointly point toward the reading that ham-marʾeh in v.16 = the 2,300-oracle, and that its full disclosure is deferred across the ch. 8 → ch. 9 hinge. This reading is consistent with the intra-Danielic three-part reveal pattern documented in dan-8-26 §4 (authentication → sealing → partial disclosure) and the Dan 9:23 angelic return analyzed in dan-9-24-27.

Note that this grammatical observation does not adjudicate chronological schemes (Antiochene / pagan Rome / papal / futurist) for the 2,300 evening-mornings. It only constrains the referent of ham-marʾeh: what Gabriel is commissioned to explain in v.16 is most plausibly the specific time-oracle of v.14, with its full disclosure deferred to the Dan 9 supplement. The chronological application of that time-oracle is a separate question analyzed at dan-8-14, dan-8-14-evening-mornings/CONCLUSION.md, and dan-9-24-27.

Generated from: hebrew_parser.py (--verse, --clause, --construct) on Dan 8:15 and Dan 8:16; KJV text from tools/data/kjv.txt; word studies H4758-mareh and H2377-chazon for the lexical distinction. Last updated: 2026-04-19.