11 When Yavin king of Hatzor heard of it, he informed Yovav king of Madon; the king of Shimron; the king of Akhshaf; ² the kings to the north, in the hills, in the ‘Aravah south of Kinn’rot, in the Sh’felah and in the regions of Dor on the west; ³ the Kena‘ani to east and west; the Emori, Hitti, P’rizi and Y’vusi in the hills; and the Hivi at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mitzpah. ⁴ So they set out, they and all their armies, many people, in number like the sand at the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. ⁵ All these kings met together, then came and pitched camp together at the Merom Spring, to fight Isra’el.

⁶ Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “Don’t be afraid on their account; because at this time tomorrow I will hand them over, all of them dead, before Isra’el. You are to hamstring their horses and burn up their chariots.” ⁷ So Y’hoshua came against them suddenly with all his fighting men and fell on them at the Merom Spring.

⁸ Adonai handed them over to Isra’el — they attacked and chased them to Greater Tzidon, Misrefot-Mayim and eastward to the Mitzpeh Valley; they attacked them until none of them was left. ⁹ Y’hoshua did to them what Adonai had ordered — he hamstrung their horses and burned up their chariots. ¹⁰ Then Y’hoshua turned back and captured Hatzor, striking its king dead with the sword; for in time past Hatzor had been the head of all those kingdoms. ¹¹ They put everyone there to death with the sword, completely destroying them; there was nothing left that breathed; and he burned Hatzor to the ground. ¹² Y’hoshua captured all the cities of those kings and the kings as well; he defeated them with the sword and completely destroyed them, as Moshe the servant of Adonai had ordered. ¹³ But as for the cities built on their tels, Isra’el burned none of them except Hatzor; Y’hoshua did burn that one. ¹⁴ All the spoil of these cities and the livestock the people of Isra’el took as booty for themselves; but every human being they put to death with the sword, until they had destroyed them — they left no one breathing. ¹⁵ Moshe had given orders to Y’hoshua, just as Adonai had given orders to Moshe his servant, and Y’hoshua acted accordingly — he did everything Adonai had ordered Moshe.

¹⁶ So Y’hoshua captured all that land, the hills, the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the Sh’felah, the ‘Aravah and the Isra’el hills and Sh’felah, ¹⁷ from the bare mountain that goes up to Se‘ir to Ba‘al-Gad in the L’vanon Valley under Mount Hermon; and he took all their kings, struck them and put them to death. ¹⁸ Y’hoshua made war with all those kings for a long time. ¹⁹ Not one city made peace with the people of Isra’el, except for the Hivi living in Giv‘on; they took everything in battle. ²⁰ For it was Adonai who caused them to harden their hearts and come against Isra’el in battle, so that they would be utterly destroyed, so that they would not find favor but be destroyed, in keeping with the orders Adonai had given Moshe.

²¹ Y’hoshua at that time came and cut off the ‘Anakim from the land — from Hevron, D’vir, ‘Anav and from all the hill-country of Y’hudah and Isra’el; Y’hoshua utterly destroyed them and their cities. ²² No ‘Anakim were left in the land of the people of Isra’el — only in ‘Azah, Gat and Ashdod did some remain. ²³ Y’hoshua took the whole land, in keeping with all that Adonai had said to Moshe and to Isra’el according to their divisions into tribes. Then the land rested from war.

7 In the first year of Belshatzar king of Bavel, Dani’el had a dream and visions in his head, as he was lying on his bed. He wrote the dream down, and this is his account:

² “I had a vision at night; I saw there before me the four winds of the sky breaking out over the great sea, ³ and four huge animals came up out of the sea, each different from the others. ⁴ The first was like a lion, but it had eagle’s wings. As I watched, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted off the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a human heart was given to it. ⁵ Then there was another animal, a second one, like a bear. It raised itself up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up, and gorge yourself with flesh!’ ⁶ After this, I looked; and there was another one, like a leopard with four bird’s wings on its sides. The animal also had four heads, and it was given power to rule. ⁷ After this, I looked in the night visions; and there before me was a fourth animal, dreadful, horrible, extremely strong, and with great iron teeth. It devoured, crushed and stamped its feet on what was left. It was different from all the animals that had gone before it, and it had ten horns.

⁸ “While I was considering the horns, another horn sprang up among them, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. In this horn were eyes like human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogantly.

¹¹ “I kept watching. Then, because of the arrogant words which the horn was speaking, I watched as the animal was killed; its body was destroyed; and it was given over to be burned up completely. ¹² As for the other animals, their rulership was taken away; but their lives were prolonged for a time and a season.

¹⁵ “As for me, Dani’el, my spirit deep within me was troubled; the visions in my head frightened me. ¹⁶ I approached one of those standing by and asked him what all this really meant. He said that he would make me understand how to interpret these things. ¹⁷ ‘These four huge animals are four kingdoms that will arise on earth. ¹⁸ But the holy ones of the Most High will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, yes, forever and ever.’

¹⁹ “Then I wanted to know what the fourth beast meant, the one that was different from all the others, so very terrifying, with iron teeth and bronze nails, which devoured, crushed and stamped its feet on what was left; ²⁰ and what the ten horns on its head meant; and the other horn which sprang up and before which three fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth speaking arrogantly and seemed greater than the others. ²¹ I watched, and that horn made war with the holy ones and was winning, ²² until the Ancient One came, judgment was given in favor of the holy ones of the Most High, and the time came for the holy ones to take over the kingdom. ²³ This is what he said: ‘The fourth animal will be a fourth kingdom on earth. It will be different from the other kingdoms; it will devour the whole earth, trample it down and crush it. ²⁴ As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and yet another will arise after them. Now he will be different from the earlier ones, and he will put down three kings. ²⁵ He will speak words against the Most High and try to exhaust the holy ones of the Most High. He will attempt to alter the seasons and the law; and [the holy ones] will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. ²⁶ But when the court goes into session, he will be stripped of his rulership, which will be consumed and completely destroyed. ²⁷ Then the kingdom, the rulership and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. Their kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey them.’”

²⁸ This is the end of the account. As for me, Dani’el, my thoughts frightened me so much that I turned pale; but I kept the matter to myself.

13 As Yeshua came out of the Temple, one of the talmidim said to him, “Look, Rabbi! What huge stones! What magnificent buildings!” ² “You see all these great buildings?” Yeshua said to him, “They will be totally destroyed — not a single stone will be left standing!”

³ As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple, Kefa, Ya‘akov, Yochanan and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what sign will show when all these things are about to be accomplished?”

⁵ Yeshua began speaking to them: “Watch out! Don’t let anyone fool you! ⁶ Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will fool many people. ⁷ When you hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off, don’t become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come. ⁸ For peoples will fight each other, and nations will fight each other, there will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines; this is but the beginning of the ‘birth pains.’

⁹ “But you, watch yourselves! They will hand you over to the local Sanhedrins, you will be beaten up in synagogues, and on my account you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. ¹⁰ Indeed, the Good News has to be proclaimed first to all the Goyim. ¹¹ Now when they arrest you and bring you to trial, don’t worry beforehand about what to say. Rather, say whatever is given you when the time comes; for it will not be just you speaking, but the Ruach HaKodesh. ¹² Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death; ¹³ and everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out till the end will be delivered.

¹⁴ “Now when you see the abomination that causes devastation^[a] standing where it ought not to be” (let the reader understand the allusion), “that will be the time for those in Y’hudah to escape to the hills. ¹⁵ If someone is on the roof, he must not go down and enter his house to take any of his belongings; ¹⁶ if someone is in the field, he must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁷ What a terrible time it will be for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ¹⁸ Pray that it may not happen in winter. ¹⁹ For there will be worse trouble at that time than there has ever been from the very beginning, when God created the universe, until now; and there will be nothing like it again.^{[b] 20} Indeed, if God had not limited the duration of the trouble, no one would survive; but for the sake of the elect, those whom he has chosen, he has limited it.

²¹ “At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here’s the Messiah!’ or, ‘See, there he is!’ — don’t believe him! ²² There will appear false Messiahs and false prophets performing signs and wonders for the purpose, if possible, of misleading the chosen. ²³ But you, watch out! I have told you everything in advance! ²⁴ In those days, after that trouble,

²⁶ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with tremendous power and glory.^{[d] 27} He will send out his angels and gather together his chosen people from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

²⁸ “Now let the fig tree teach you its lesson: when its branches begin to sprout and leaves appear, you know that summer is approaching. ²⁹ In the same way, when you see all these things happening, you are to know that the time is near, right at the door. ³⁰ Yes! I tell you that this people will certainly not pass away before all these things happen. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will certainly not pass away. ³² However, when that day and hour will come, no one knows — not the angels in heaven, not the Son, just the Father. ³³ Stay alert! Be on your guard! For you do not know when the time will come.

³⁴ “It’s like a man who travels away from home, puts his servants in charge, each with his own task, and tells the doorkeeper to stay alert. ³⁵ So stay alert! for you don’t know when the owner of the house will come, ³⁶ whether it will be evening, midnight, cockcrow or morning — you don’t want him to come suddenly and find you sleeping! ³⁷ And what I say to you, I say to everyone: stay alert!”