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

⁵ “Then the ^(H)king of the South will grow strong, ^[f]along with one of his princes ^[g]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 ^(I)king of the North to reach an agreement. But she will not keep her ^[h]position of power, nor will he remain with his ^[i]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 ^[j]descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the ^(J)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 ^(K)gods with their cast metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and he on his part will ^[k]refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years. ⁹ Then ^[l]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 ^(L)overflow and pass through, so that he may ^[m]again wage war up to his fortress. ¹¹ And the ^(M)king of the South will be enraged and go out and fight ^[n]with the king of the North. Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be handed over to ^[o]the former. ¹² When the multitude is carried away, his heart will ^[p]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 ^[q]after an ^(N)interval of some years he will ^[r]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 ^[s]fall down. ¹⁵ Then the king of the North will come, pile up an ^(O)assault ramp, and capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even ^[t]their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. ¹⁶ But he who comes against him will ^(P)do as he pleases, and ^(Q)no one will be able to withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the ^[u](R)Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand. ¹⁷ And he will ^(S)set his ^[v]mind on coming with the power of his entire kingdom, ^[w]bringing with him ^[x]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 ^[y]on his side. ¹⁸ Then he will turn his face to the ^(T)coastlands and capture many. But a commander will put a stop to his taunting against him; moreover, he will ^(U)repay him for his taunting. ¹⁹ So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will ^(V)stumble and fall and not be ^(W)found.

²⁰ “Then in his place one will arise who will ^(X)allow an ^[z]oppressor to pass through the ^[aa]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 ^(Y)seize the kingdom by intrigue. ²² And the overflowing ^(Z)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 [ab]In a time of tranquility he will enter the ^(AA)richest parts of the ^[ac]realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers did not, nor his ^[ad]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 ^[ae]courage against the ^(AB)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 ^[af]destroy him, and his army will ^[ag](AC)overflow, but many will fall down slain. ²⁷ As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on ^(AD)evil, and they will ^(AE)speak lies to each other at the same table; but it will not succeed, because the ^(AF)end is still to come at the appointed time. ²⁸ Then he will return to his land with much ^[ah]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 ^[ai]this last time it will not turn out the way it did before. ³⁰ For ships of ^[aj](AG)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, ^(AH)desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the ^(AI)abomination ^[ak]of desolation. ³² And by ^(AJ)smooth words he will ^[al]turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will be ^(AK)strong and take action. ³³ And ^[am](AL)those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will ^(AM)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 ^(AN)join with them in ^(AO)hypocrisy. ³⁵ And some of ^[an]those who have insight will fall, to ^(AP)refine, ^(AQ)purge, and ^[ao](AR)cleanse them until the ^(AS)end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.

^7 (A)Little children, make sure no one ^(B)deceives you; ^(C)the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; ⁸ the one who practices sin is ^(D)of the devil; for the devil ^[a]has been sinning from the beginning. ^(E)The Son of God ^(F)appeared for this purpose, ^(G)to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one who has been ^(H)born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ By this the ^(I)children of God and the ^(J)children of the devil are obvious: ^[b]anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who ^(K)does not love his ^(L)brother and sister.

^11 (M)For this is the message ^(N)which you have heard from the beginning, ^(O)that we are to love one another; ¹² not as ^(P)Cain, who was of ^(Q)the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he murder him? Because ^(R)his own deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.

¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if ^(S)the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have ^(T)passed out of death into life, ^(U)because we love the brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who ^(V)hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that ^(W)no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. ¹⁶ We know love by this, that ^(X)He laid down His life for us; and ^(Y)we ought to lay down our lives for the ^(Z)brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ But ^(AA)whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother or sister in need, and ^(AB)closes his ^[c]heart ^[d]against him, ^(AC)how does the love of God remain in him? ^18 (AD)Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and ^(AE)truth. ¹⁹ We will know by this that we are ^(AF)of the truth, and will set our heart at ease before Him, ²⁰ that if our heart condemns us, that God is greater than our heart, and He knows all things. ^21 (AG)Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have ^(AH)confidence ^[e]before God; ²² and ^(AI)whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we ^(AJ)keep His commandments and do ^(AK)the things that are pleasing in His sight.

²³ This is His commandment, that we ^[f](AL)believe in ^(AM)the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as ^(AN)He ^[g]commanded us. ²⁴ The one who ^(AO)keeps His commandments ^(AP)remains in Him, and He in him. ^(AQ)We know by this that ^(AR)He remains in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.

A Song of Ascents, of David.