Kingdoms and Wars

1“Now I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, [†]I stood to strengthen and to be a fortress for him. 2So now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to stand [†]in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, [†]he will arouse the whole empire against the kingdom of [†]Greece. 3And a mighty king will stand, and he will [†]dominate with great [†]domination and do as he pleases. 4But as soon as he stands, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of [†]heaven, but not to his own descendants, nor according to his [†]domination with which he [†]dominated, for his kingdom will be uprooted and given to others besides [†]them.

5“Then the king of the South will grow strong, [†]along with one of his princes [†]who will grow strong over him and [†]obtain dominion; indeed, his [†]domain will be a great [†]dominion. 6And [†]after some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to carry out [†]an equitable arrangement. But she will not retain her [†]position of power, nor will he continue to stand with his [†]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 strengthened her in those times. 7But one of the [†]descendants of her line will stand in his place, and he will come against their military force and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display strength. 8And also their gods with their [†]metal images and their desirable vessels of silver and gold he will bring into captivity to Egypt, and he on his part will stand back from attacking the king of the North for some years. 9Then [†]the latter will enter the kingdom of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.

10“And his sons will wage war. So they will gather a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through, that he may [†]again wage war up to his very fortress. 11And the king of the South will be enraged and go forth and fight [†]with the king of the North. Then the latter will cause a great multitude to stand, but that multitude will be given into [†]the hand of the former. 12Then the multitude will be carried away, his heart will be lifted up, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall; yet he will not prevail. 13And the king of the North will again cause a much greater multitude than the former to stand, and at the end of the times of those years, he will keep on coming with a great military force and much equipment.

14“Now in those times many will stand against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to cause the vision to stand, but they will [†]fall down. 15Then the king of the North will come, cast up a siege ramp, and capture a well-fortified city; and the might of the South will not stand, not even [†]their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. 16But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand in [†]opposition to him; he will also stand for a time in the [†]Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand. 17And he will set his face to come with the authority of his whole kingdom, [†]bringing with him [†]an equitable proposal which he will [†]put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to destroy it. But she will not take a stand for him or be [†]on his side. 18Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many. But a ruler will make his reproach against him cease; moreover, he will repay him for his reproach. 19So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more.

20“Then in his place one will stand who will have an [†]oppressor pass through the [†]Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be broken, though not in anger nor in battle. 21And in his place a despised person will stand, to whom the splendor of the kingdom has not been given, but he will come in a time of ease and take hold of the kingdom by intrigue. 22But the overflowing [†]might will be flooded away before him and broken, and also the prince of the covenant. 23And 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[†]In a time of ease he will enter the richest parts of the province, and he will do what his fathers never did, nor his fathers’ fathers; he will distribute plunder, spoil, and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time. 25And he will stir up his strength and heart against the king of the South with a great military force; so the king of the South will wage war with an extremely large and mighty military force for war; but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him. 26And those who eat his choice food will break him, and his military force will [†]overflow, but many will fall down slain. 27And as for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, and they will speak falsehood at the same table; but it will not succeed, for the end is still to come at the appointed time. 28Then he will return to his land with great possessions; 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 [†]this last time it will not happen the way it did before. 30Indeed, ships of [†]Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become indignant at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. 31Mighty forces from him will stand, profane the sanctuary fortress, and abolish the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination [†]of desolation. 32And by smooth words he will [†]turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. 33And [†]those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. 34Now when they fall, they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in [†]intrigue. 35And some of [†]those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge, and make them [†]pure until the time of the end, because it is still to come at the appointed time.

36“Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak [†]astonishing things against the God of gods; and he will succeed until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. 37He will show no regard for the [†]gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all. 38But [†]instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones, and desirable things. 39And he will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to [†]those who recognize him and will cause them to rule over the many and will apportion land for a price.

40“And at the time of the end, the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter lands, overflow them, and pass through. 41And he will also enter the [†]Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. 42Then he will send forth his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. 43But he will rule over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the desirable things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his [†]heels. 44But reports from the East and from the North will dismay him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and [†]devote many to destruction. 45And he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.