Kings of the South and North

² “Now then, I will reveal the truth to you. Three more Persian kings will reign, to be succeeded by a fourth, far richer than the others. He will use his wealth to stir up everyone to fight against the kingdom of Greece.^[a]

⁵ They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. This went on during the entire reign of King Cyrus of Persia and lasted until King Darius of Persia took the throne.^[a]

Later Opposition under Xerxes and Artaxerxes

⁶ Years later when Xerxes^[b] began his reign, the enemies of Judah wrote a letter of accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

²⁶ “This vision about the 2,300 evenings and mornings^[a] is true. But none of these things will happen for a long time, so keep this vision a secret.”

⁵ And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”

³⁷ Pilate said, “So you are a king?”

Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime.

³⁵ And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’

²⁵ “Then he will stir up his courage and raise a great army against the king of the south. The king of the south will go to battle with a mighty army, but to no avail, for there will be plots against him.

²⁰ He replied, “Do you know why I have come? Soon I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and after that the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece^[a] will come. ²¹ Meanwhile, I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one helps me against these spirit princes except Michael, your spirit prince.^[b]

Daniel’s Vision of a Messenger

10 In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia,^[a] Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) had another vision. He understood that the vision concerned events certain to happen in the future—times of war and great hardship.