Conflicts to Come

1 “In the afirst year of Darius the Mede, 1I arose to be 2an encouragement and a protection for him.

2 “And now I will tell you the atruth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise 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 realm of 3bGreece.

3 “And a amighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and bdo as he pleases.

4 “But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out atoward the bfour 1points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be cuprooted and given to others besides 2them.

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

6 “After 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 1a peaceful arrangement. But she will not retain her 2position of power, nor will he remain with his 3power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.

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

8 “Also their agods with their 1metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold he will take into captivity to Egypt, and he on his part will 2refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years.

9 “Then 1the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.

10 “His sons will 1mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and aoverflow and pass through, that he may 2again wage war up to his very fortress.

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

12 “When the multitude is carried away, his heart will be lifted up, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall; yet he will not prevail.

13 “For the king of the North will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and 1after an ainterval of some years he will 2press on with a great army and much equipment.

14 “Now in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, 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 forces of the South will not stand their ground, 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 withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the 1cBeautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.

17 “He will aset his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, 1bringing with him 2a proposal of peace which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it. But she will not take a stand for him or be 3on his side.

18 “Then he will turn his face to the acoastlands and capture many. But a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him; moreover, he will brepay him for his scorn.

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 arise who will asend an 1oppressor through the 2Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.

21 “In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and aseize the kingdom by intrigue.

22 “The overflowing aforces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant.

23 “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 “1In a time of tranquility he will enter the arichest parts of the 2realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his 3ancestors; he will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time.

25 “He will stir up his strength and 1courage against the aking of the South with a large army; so the king of the South will mobilize an extremely large and mighty army for war; but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him.

26 “Those who eat his choice food will 1destroy him, and his army will 2aoverflow, but many will fall down slain.

27 “As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on aevil, and they will bspeak lies to each other 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 much 1plunder; 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 turn out the way it did before.

30 “For ships of 1aKittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant.

31 “Forces from him will arise, adesecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the babomination 1of desolation.

32 “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 “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 they will be granted a little help, and many will ajoin with them in bhypocrisy.

35 “Some of 1those who have insight will fall, in order to arefine, bpurge and make them 2cpure until the dend time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.