² And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and when he is waxed strong through his riches, ^[a]he shall stir up all against the realm of ^[b]Greece. ³ And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. ⁴ And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion wherewith he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides these.

⁵ And the king of the south ^[c]shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion. ⁶ And at the end of years they shall join themselves together; and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make ^[d]an agreement: but she shall not retain the strength of her arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm; but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in those times.

⁷ But out of a shoot from her roots shall one stand up in his ^[e]place, who shall come ^[f]unto the army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail. ⁸ And also their gods, with their ^[g]molten images, and with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, shall he carry captive into Egypt; and he shall ^[h]refrain some years from the king of the north. ⁹ And he shall come into the realm of the king of the south, but he shall return into his own land.

¹⁰ And his sons shall war, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, ^[i]which shall come on, and overflow, and pass through; and ^[j]they shall return and war, even to his fortress. ¹¹ And the king of the south shall be moved with anger, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north; and he shall set forth a great multitude, and the multitude shall be given into his hand. ¹² And the multitude shall ^[k]be lifted up, and his heart shall be exalted; and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. ¹³ And the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former; and he shall come on at the end of the times, even ^[l]of years, with a great army and with much substance. ¹⁴ And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the children of the violent among thy people shall lift themselves up to establish the vision; but they shall fall. ¹⁵ So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mound, and take ^[m]a well-fortified city: and the forces of the south shall not stand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to stand. ¹⁶ But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the glorious land, and in his hand shall be destruction. ¹⁷ And he shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and with him ^[n]equitable conditions; and he shall perform them: and he shall give him the daughter of women, ^[o]to corrupt her; but ^[p]she shall not stand, neither be for him. ¹⁸ After this shall he turn his face unto the ^[q]isles, and shall take many: but a ^[r]prince shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; yea, moreover, he shall cause his reproach to turn upon him. ¹⁹ Then he shall turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land; but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found.

²⁰ Then shall stand up in his place one that shall cause an exactor to pass through the glory of the kingdom; but within few days he shall be ^[s]destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. ²¹ And in his ^[t]place shall stand up a contemptible person, to whom they had not given the honor of the kingdom: but he shall come in time of security, and shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries. ²² And the overwhelming forces shall be overwhelmed from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of ^[u]the covenant. ²³ And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully; for he shall come up, and shall become strong, with a small people. ²⁴ In time of security shall he come even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall scatter among them prey, and spoil, and substance: yea, he shall devise his devices against the strongholds, even for a time. ²⁵ And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall war in battle with an exceeding great and mighty army; but he shall not stand; for they shall devise devices against him. ²⁶ Yea, they that eat of his dainties shall ^[v]destroy him, and his army shall overflow; and many shall fall down slain. ²⁷ And as for both these kings, their hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table: but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.

²⁸ Then shall he return into his land with great substance; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do his pleasure, and return to his own land. ²⁹ At the time appointed he shall return, and come into the south; but it shall not be in the latter time as it was in the former. ³⁰ For ships of Kittim shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and shall return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and shall do his pleasure: he shall even return, and have regard unto them that forsake the holy covenant. ³¹ And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt-offering, and they shall set up the abomination that maketh desolate. ³² And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he ^[w]pervert by flatteries; but the people that know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. ³³ And ^[x]they that are wise among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days. ³⁴ Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with a little help; but many shall join themselves unto them with flatteries. ³⁵ And some of ^[y]them that are wise shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for the time appointed.

⁷ My little children, let no man lead you astray: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous: ⁸ he that doeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God. ¹⁰ In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. ¹¹ For this is the message which ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another: ¹² not as Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

¹³ Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death. ¹⁵ Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. ¹⁶ Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷ But whoso hath the world’s goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? ¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth. ¹⁹ Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall ^[a]assure our heart ^[b]before him: ²⁰ because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God; ²² and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. ²³ And this is his commandment, that we should ^[c]believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he gave us commandment. ²⁴ And he that keepeth his commandments abideth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.

Prayer for the peace of Jerusalem.

A Song of Ascents; of David.