Conflicts to Come

11 “In the ^(A)first year of Darius the Mede, ^[a]I arose to be of ^[b]assistance and a protection for him. ² And now I will tell you the ^(B)truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise ^[c]in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, ^[d]he will stir up the entire empire against the realm of ^[e](C)Greece. ³ And a ^(D)mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and ^(E)do as he pleases. ⁴ But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out ^(F)toward the ^(G)four ^[f]points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, because his sovereignty will be ^(H)removed and given to others besides ^[g]them.

⁵ “Then the ^(I)king of the South will grow strong, ^[h]along with one of his princes ^[i]who will gain ascendancy over him and rule; his domain will be a great realm indeed. ⁶ And after some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the ^(J)king of the North to reach an agreement. But she will not keep her ^[j]position of power, nor will he remain with his ^[k]power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who fathered her as well as he who supported her in those times. ⁷ But one of the ^[l]descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the ^(K)fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and prevail. ⁸ And he will also take into captivity to Egypt their ^(L)gods with their cast metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and he on his part will ^[m]refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years. ⁹ Then ^[n]the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.

¹⁰ “And his sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and ^(M)overflow and pass through, so that he may ^[o]again wage war up to his fortress. ¹¹ And the ^(N)king of the South will be enraged and go out and fight ^[p]with the king of the North. Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be handed over to ^[q]the former. ¹² When the multitude is carried away, his heart will ^[r]be haughty, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall; yet he will not prevail. ¹³ For the king of the North will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and ^[s]after an ^(O)interval of some years he will ^[t]press on with a great army and much equipment.

¹⁴ “Now in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also raise themselves up to fulfill the vision, but they will ^[u]fall down. ¹⁵ Then the king of the North will come, pile up an ^(P)assault ramp, and capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even ^[v]their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. ¹⁶ But he who comes against him will ^(Q)do as he pleases, and ^(R)no one will be able to withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the ^[w](S)Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand. ¹⁷ And he will ^(T)set his ^[x]mind on coming with the power of his entire kingdom, ^[y]bringing with him ^[z]a proposal of peace which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it. But she will not take a stand for him or be ^[aa]on his side. ¹⁸ Then he will turn his face to the ^(U)coastlands and capture many. But a commander will put a stop to his taunting against him; moreover, he will ^(V)repay him for his taunting. ¹⁹ So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will ^(W)stumble and fall and not be ^(X)found.

²⁰ “Then in his place one will arise who will ^(Y)allow an ^[ab]oppressor to pass through the ^[ac]Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be broken, though not in anger nor in battle. ²¹ And in his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the majesty of kingship has not been conferred; but he will come in a time of tranquility and ^(Z)seize the kingdom by intrigue. ²² And the overflowing ^(AA)forces will be flooded away from him and smashed, and also the prince of the covenant. ²³ After an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people. ^24 [ad]In a time of tranquility he will enter the ^(AB)richest parts of the ^[ae]realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers did not, nor his ^[af]ancestors; he will distribute plunder, spoils, and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time. ²⁵ And he will stir up his strength and ^[ag]courage against the ^(AC)king of the South with a large army; so the king of the South will mobilize an extremely large and mighty army for war; but he will not stand, because schemes will be devised against him. ²⁶ Those who eat his choice food will ^[ah]destroy him, and his army will ^[ai](AD)overflow, but many will fall down slain. ²⁷ As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on ^(AE)evil, and they will ^(AF)speak lies to each other at the same table; but it will not succeed, because the ^(AG)end is still to come at the appointed time. ²⁸ Then he will return to his land with much ^[aj]plunder; but his heart will be set against the holy covenant, and he will take action and then return to his own land.

²⁹ “At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but ^[ak]this last time it will not turn out the way it did before. ³⁰ For ships of ^[al](AH)Kittim will come against him; therefore he will withdraw in fear and will return and curse the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and pay attention to those who abandon the holy covenant. ³¹ Forces from him will arise, ^(AI)desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the ^(AJ)abomination ^[am]of desolation. ³² And by ^(AK)smooth words he will ^[an]turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will be ^(AL)strong and take action. ³³ And ^[ao](AM)those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will ^(AN)fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. ³⁴ Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will ^(AO)join with them in ^(AP)hypocrisy. ³⁵ And some of ^[ap]those who have insight will fall, to ^(AQ)refine, ^(AR)purge, and ^[aq](AS)cleanse them until the ^(AT)end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.

³⁶ “Then the king will ^(AU)do as he pleases, and he will exalt himself and ^(AV)boast against every god and will ^(AW)speak ^[ar]dreadful things against the ^(AX)God of gods; and he will be successful until the ^(AY)indignation is finished, because that which is ^(AZ)determined will be done. ³⁷ And he will show no regard for the ^[as]gods of his fathers or for the ^[at]desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will boast against them all. ³⁸ But ^[au]instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, precious stones, and treasures. ³⁹ And he will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to ^[av]those who acknowledge him and will make them rulers over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.

⁴⁰ “And at the ^(BA)end time the ^(BB)king of the South will wage war with him, and the ^(BC)king of the North will ^(BD)storm against him with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter countries, ^(BE)overflow them, and pass through. ⁴¹ He will also enter the ^[aw](BF)Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, ^(BG)Moab, and the foremost of the sons of ^(BH)Ammon. ⁴² Then he will reach out with his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. ⁴³ But he will ^[ax]gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and ^(BI)Libyans and ^(BJ)Ethiopians will follow at his ^[ay]heels. ⁴⁴ But rumors from the East and from the North will terrify him, and he will go out with great wrath to eliminate and ^[az]annihilate many. ⁴⁵ And he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful ^(BK)Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.