Daniel 10–12

Chapter 10

Daniel Is Terrified by a Vision

¹In the third year of ^aCyrus king of Persia a ¹message was revealed to ^bDaniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the ^cmessage was true and one of great ²conflict, but he understood the message and had an ^dunderstanding of the vision.

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

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 weeks were completed.

⁴On 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 waist was ^bgirded with a belt of pure ^cgold 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 polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a ³tumult.

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

⁸So I was ^aleft alone and saw this great vision; yet ^bno strength was left in me, for my ¹natural color turned to ²a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength.

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 Comforted

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

¹¹He said to me, “O ^aDaniel, man of ¹high esteem, ^bunderstand the words that I am about to tell 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 set your heart on understanding this and on ^bhumbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response ^cto your words.

¹³“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was ¹withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, ^aMichael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for 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 ^1blatter days, for the vision pertains to ^cthe days yet future.”

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

¹⁶And behold, ^1aone who resembled a human being 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 ^2canguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength.

¹⁷“For ^ahow can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, there remains just now ^bno strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me.”

¹⁸Then this one with human appearance touched me again and ^astrengthened me.

¹⁹He said, “O man of ¹high esteem, ^ado not be afraid. Peace ²be with you; take ^bcourage and be courageous!” 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 ¹understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the ²prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the ^aprince of ³Greece is about to come.

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

Chapter 11

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.

³⁶“Then the king will ^ado…