Daniel 12

The Voice

12 Messenger (to Daniel): At that time, Michael, the great heavenly prince, the grand defender and guardian of your people, will arise. Then the world will enter a time of distress unlike any in history, an hour of anguish greater than any nation has ever known. But during this time your people, those whose names have been written in the scroll, will be liberated. ²And many who sleep the sleep of death in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life with the Lord and others to utter shame and eternal disgrace far from Him. ³Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky at midday, and those who make the many righteous will shine as the stars forever and ever. ⁴As for you, Daniel, keep these visions and their meaning a secret. Write down what you have seen and heard, then seal the scroll until the time of the end. Many will wander here and there, and knowledge will expand.

⁵Then I, Daniel, stood on the bank of the Tigris River and looked as two others appeared, one on my side of the river and the other on the far side. ⁶One of them spoke to the man dressed in linen clothing, who was upstream.

Heavenly Being: How long will it be until these disturbing events come to an end?

⁷I watched and listened carefully. The man dressed in linen clothing who was upstream raised both of his hands into the sky toward heaven. He swore an oath by Him who lives eternally that these disturbing events would last for a time, times, and half a time; and that when the shattering of the power of God’s holy people comes to an end, then all of this will be over. ⁸I heard what he said but could not understand its meaning.

Daniel: My lord, how will all of this come out in the end?

Man in Linen: ⁹It is time for you to go on your way, Daniel, for the words must be kept secret and sealed until the time of the end. ¹⁰Many will keep themselves pure and clean and refined despite the pressures of these times, but those who are wicked will continue their wicked ways and none of them will ever understand. But those who are wise will. ¹¹From the time when the daily sacrifice is prohibited and the disgusting idol that desecrates the most holy place^[a] is put in its place, there will be 1,290 days.^[b] ¹²Those who remain true to God and reach the end of the 1,335 days are sure to experience God’s blessing. ¹³As for you, Daniel, go and be faithful to the end of your life. You will surely rest, but when the end of days arrives, you will rise again to receive the inheritance allotted for you.