Daniel 11–12

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 as he pleases, and he will exalt and ^bmagnify himself above every god and will ^cspeak ¹monstrous things against the ^dGod of gods; and he will prosper until the ^eindignation is finished, for that which is ^fdecreed will be done.

³⁷“He will show no regard for the ¹gods 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.

³⁸“But ¹instead 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 treasures.

³⁹“He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to ¹those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.

⁴⁰“At the ^aend time the ^bking of the South will collide with him, and the ^cking of the North will ^dstorm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, ^eoverflow them and pass through.

⁴¹“He will also enter the ^1aBeautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, ^bMoab and the foremost of the sons of ^cAmmon.

⁴²“Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape.

⁴³“But he will ¹gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and ^aLibyans and ^bEthiopians will follow at his ²heels.

⁴⁴“But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and ¹annihilate many.

⁴⁵“He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful ^aHoly Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.

Chapter 12

The Time of the End

¹“Now at that time ^aMichael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a ^btime of distress ^csuch as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the ^dbook, will be rescued.

²“^aMany of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, ^bthese to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting ¹contempt.

³“¹Those who have ^ainsight will ^bshine brightly like the brightness of the ²expanse of heaven, and those who ^clead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

⁴“But as for you, Daniel, ^aconceal these words and ^bseal up the book until the ^cend of time; ^dmany will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”

⁵Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river.

⁶And ^aone said to the man ^bdressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “^cHow long will it be until the end of these wonders?”

⁷I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, ¹as he ^araised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by ^bHim who lives forever that it would be for a ^2ctime, times, and half a time; and as soon as ³they finish ^dshattering the ⁴power of the holy people, all these events will be completed.

⁸As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the ¹outcome of these events?”

⁹He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and ^asealed up until the end time.

¹⁰“^aMany will be purged, ¹purified and refined, but the ^bwicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but ²those who ^chave insight will understand.

¹¹“From the…