Daniel 10–12

CHAPTER 10

Daniel’s Terrifying Vision of a Man

¹In the third year of ^aCyrus king of Persia, a word was revealed to ^bDaniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the ^cword was true and one of great ¹conflict, but he understood the word and had an ^dunderstanding of what had appeared.

²In those days, I, Daniel, had been ^amourning for three entire ¹weeks.

³I ^adid not eat any ¹tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three ²weeks were fulfilled.

⁴And on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great ^ariver, that is, the ¹Tigris,

⁵I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man ^adressed in linen, whose loins were ^bgirded with a belt of pure ^cfine gold of Uphaz.

⁶His body also was like ¹beryl, his face ²had the appearance of lightning, ^ahis eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.

⁷Now I, Daniel, ^aalone saw the vision that appeared, but the ^bmen who were with me did not see the vision that appeared; nevertheless, a great ^cterror fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves.

⁸So I alone ^aremained and saw this great vision that appeared; yet ^bno might remained in me, for my outward splendor turned to ¹a deathly pallor, and I retained no might.

⁹But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I ^afell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.

Daniel Is Strengthened

¹⁰Then behold, a hand ^atouched me and set me shaking on my ¹hands and knees.

¹¹And he said to me, “O ^aDaniel, man of ¹high esteem, ^bunderstand the words that I am about to speak to you and ^cstand ²upright, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up ^dtrembling.

¹²Then he said to me, “^aDo not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you gave your heart to understand this and to ^bhumble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response ^cto your words.

¹³“But the ¹prince of the kingdom of Persia was ²standing against me for twenty-one days; then behold, ^aMichael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. Now I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

¹⁴“Now I have come to ^agive you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the ^1blast days, for the vision pertains to ^cthe days yet future.”

¹⁵Now when he had spoken to me according to these words, I ¹turned my face toward the ground and became ^aspeechless.

¹⁶And behold, ^aone ¹in the likeness of the sons of men was ^btouching my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, “O my lord, as a result of the vision that appeared, ^cpains have come upon me, and I have retained no might.

¹⁷“Now ^ahow can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, right now ^bno might stands within me, nor does any breath remain within me.”

¹⁸Then this one with the appearance of a man touched me again and ^astrengthened me.

¹⁹And he said, “O man of ¹high esteem, ^ado not be afraid. Peace ²be with you; gather ^bstrength and be strong!” Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, “May my lord speak, for you have ^cstrengthened me.”

²⁰Then he said, “Do you know why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the ¹prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the ^2aprince of ³Greece is about to come.

²¹“However, I will tell you what is ¹inscribed in the writing of ^atruth. Now there is no one who ²exerts strength with me against these forces except ^bMichael your prince.

CHAPTER 11

Kingdoms and Wars

¹“Now I, in the ^afirst year of Darius the Mede, ¹I stood to strengthen and to be a fortress for him.

²“So now I will tell you the ^atruth. Behold, three more kings are going to stand ¹in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, ²he will arouse the whole empire against the kingdom of ^3bGreece.

³“And a ^amighty king will stand, and he will ¹dominate with great ²domination and ^bdo as he pleases.

⁴“But as soon as he stands, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out ^atoward the ^bfour winds of ¹heaven, but not to his own descendants, nor according to his ²domination with which he ³dominated, for his kingdom will be ^cuprooted and given to others besides ⁴them.

⁵“Then the ^aking of the South will grow strong, ¹along with one of his princes ²who will grow strong over him and ³obtain dominion; indeed, his ⁴domain will be a great ⁵dominion.

⁶“And ¹after some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the ^aking of the North to carry out ²an equitable arrangement. But she will not retain her ³position of power, nor will he continue to stand with his ⁴power, 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.

⁷“But one of the ¹descendants of her line will stand in his place, and he will come against their military force and enter the ^afortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display strength.

⁸“And also their ^agods with their ¹metal 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.

⁹“Then ¹the 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 ^aoverflow and pass through, that he may ¹again wage war up to his very fortress.

¹¹“And the ^aking of the South will be enraged and go forth and fight ¹with the king of the North. Then the latter will cause a great multitude to stand, but that multitude will be given into ²the hand of the former.

¹²“Then 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.

¹³“And the king of the North will again cause a much greater multitude than the former to stand, and at the ^aend 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 ¹fall down.

¹⁵“Then the king of the North will come, cast up a ^asiege ramp, and capture a well-fortified city; and the might of the South will not stand, not even ¹their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand.

¹⁶“But he who comes against him will ^ado as he pleases, and ^bno one will be able to stand in ¹opposition to him; he will also stand for a time in the ^2cBeautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.

¹⁷“And he will ^aset his face to come with the authority of his whole kingdom, ¹bringing with him ²an equitable proposal which he will ³put 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 ⁴on his side.

¹⁸“Then he will turn his face to the ^acoastlands and capture many. But a ruler will make his reproach against him cease; moreover, he will ^brepay him for his reproach.

¹⁹“So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will ^astumble and fall and be ^bfound no more.

²⁰“Then in his place one will stand who will ^ahave an ¹oppressor pass through the ²Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be broken, though not in anger nor in battle.

²¹“And 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 ^atake hold of the kingdom by intrigue.

²²“But the overflowing ^1amight will be flooded away before him and broken, and also the prince of the covenant.

²³“And after an alliance is made with him, he will ¹practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people.

²⁴“¹In a time of ease he will enter the ^arichest 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.

²⁵“And he will stir up his strength and heart against the ^aking 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.

²⁶“And those who eat his choice food will break him, and his military force will ^1aoverflow, but many will fall down slain.

²⁷“And as for both kings, their hearts will be intent on ^aevil, and they will ^bspeak falsehood at the same table; but it will not succeed, for the ^cend is still to come at the appointed time.

²⁸“Then 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 ¹this last time it will not happen the way it did before.

³⁰“Indeed, ships of ^1aKittim 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.

³¹“Mighty forces from him will stand, ^aprofane the sanctuary fortress, and abolish the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the ^babomination ¹of desolation.

³²“And by ^asmooth words he will ¹turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display ^bstrength and take action.

³³“And ^1athose who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will ^bfall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days.

³⁴“Now when they fall,…