Daniel 11:21–35

The Evil King of Syria

²¹The angel went on to explain: “The next king of Syria will be an evil man who has no right to be king, but he will come unexpectedly and seize power by trickery. ²²Anyone who opposes him, even God’s High Priest, will be swept away and wiped out. ²³By making treaties, he will deceive other nations, and he will grow stronger and stronger, even though he rules only a small nation. ²⁴He will invade a wealthy province without warning and will do things that none of his ancestors ever did. Then he will divide among his followers the goods and property he has captured in war. He will make plans to attack fortresses, but his time will soon run out.

²⁵“He will boldly raise a large army to attack the king of Egypt, who will prepare to fight back with a huge and powerful army. But the king of Egypt will be deceived and will not be successful. ²⁶His closest advisers will ruin him. Many of his soldiers will be killed, and his army will be wiped out. ²⁷Then the two kings will sit down to eat at the same table, but their motives will be evil, and they will lie to each other. They will not get what they want, because the time for it has not yet come. ²⁸The king of Syria will return home with all the loot he has captured, determined to destroy the religion of God’s people. He will do as he pleases and then return to his own land.

²⁹“Later on he will invade Egypt again, but this time things will turn out differently. ³⁰The Romans will come in ships and oppose him, and he will be frightened.

“Then he will turn back in a rage and try to destroy the religion of God’s people. He will follow the advice of those who have abandoned that religion. ^31*Some of his soldiers will desecrate the Temple. They will stop the daily sacrifices and set up The Awful Horror.^{b 32}By deceit the king will win the support of those who have already abandoned their religion, but those who follow God will fight back. ³³Wise leaders of the people will share their wisdom with many others. But for a while some of them will be killed in battle or be burnt to death, and some will be robbed and made prisoners. ³⁴While the killing is going on, God’s people will receive a little help, even though many who join them will do so for selfish reasons. ³⁵Some of those wise leaders will be killed, but as a result of this the people will be purified. This will continue until the end comes, the time that God has set.