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23 “Toward the end of their kingdoms, when they have become morally rotten, an angry king shall rise to power with great shrewdness and intelligence.[a] 24 His power shall be mighty, but it will be satanic strength and not his own.[b] Prospering wherever he turns, he will destroy all who oppose him, though their armies be mighty, and he will devastate God’s people.

25 “He will be a master of deception, defeating many by catching them off guard as they bask in false security. Without warning he will destroy them. So great will he fancy himself to be that he will even take on the Prince of Princes in battle; but in so doing he will seal his own doom, for he shall be broken by the hand of God, though no human means could overpower him.

26 “And then in your vision you heard about the twenty-three hundred days to pass before the rights of worship are restored. This number is literal, and means just that.[c] But none of these things will happen for a long time, so don’t tell anyone about them yet.”

27 Then I grew faint and was sick for several days. Afterward I was up and around again and performed my duties for the king, but I was greatly distressed by the dream and did not understand it.

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Footnotes

  1. Daniel 8:23 with great shrewdness and intelligence, literally, “who understands riddles”; an alternate rendering might read, “skilled in intrigues.” Probably a reference to Antiochus Epiphanes and further future fulfillment by the Antichrist at the end of human history.
  2. Daniel 8:24 but it will be satanic strength and not his own, implied; literally, “but not with his power.”
  3. Daniel 8:26 This number is literal, and means just that, literally, “The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true.” Verse 14 is the basis for the meaning expressed in the paraphrase.

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