Daniel 11

1And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to strengthen and be a fortress to him.

2And now I will tell you the truth: behold, three more kings will arise for Persia, and the fourth will become far richer than all of them; and when he becomes strong through his riches, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.

3Then a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great dominion and do as he pleases.

4And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, and not according to the dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom will be uprooted and given to others besides these.

5Then the king of the South will grow strong, but one of his commanders will grow stronger than he and will rule, and his dominion will be a great dominion.

6At the end of years they will join together, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to make an agreement. But she will not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm will not stand; and she will be given up, along with those who brought her, and the one who fathered her, and the one who supported her in those times.

7And one from a branch of her roots shall arise in his place, and he shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall act against them and prevail.

8He will also carry off to Egypt their gods, with their cast images and with their precious vessels of silver and gold, as plunder; and for some years he will stand aloof from the king of the north.

9Then he will come into the realm of the king of the South, but he will return to his own land.

10His sons will stir themselves up and assemble a multitude of great forces, and one will certainly come and overflow and pass through; then he will return and stir up war as far as his fortress.

11Then the king of the South will become enraged and go out and fight with him, with the king of the North; and he will raise up a great multitude, but the multitude will be given into his hand.

12And when the multitude is carried away, his heart will be lifted up, and he will cast down tens of thousands, but he will not prevail.

13Then the king of the north will return and raise a multitude greater than the former one; and at the end of the times, after some years, he will surely come with a great army and with much equipment.

14And in those times many will rise up against the king of the South, and the violent among your people will lift themselves up to establish the vision, but they will stumble.

15Then the king of the north will come and heap up a siege ramp and capture a fortified city, and the forces of the south will not stand, nor his choice troops, for there will be no strength to stand.

16And the one who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will stand before him. He will stand in the Beautiful Land, and it will be consumed in his hand.

17He will set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright terms will be with him; and he will act. He will give him the daughter of women to destroy it, but she will not stand, and she will not be for him.

18Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many. But a commander will put an end to his reproach against him; indeed, he will repay his reproach to him.

19Then he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall, and he will not be found.

20Then one will arise in his place who will send an exactor through the splendor of the kingdom; but within a few days he will be broken, though not in anger and not in battle.

21And in his place a despised man will arise, on whom they had not bestowed the majesty of kingship; he will come in quietly and seize the kingdom by intrigues.

22The flood-like forces will be swept away from before him and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant.

23And from the time of an alliance with him, he will act deceitfully; and he will rise and become strong with a small nation.

24In a time of security he will come into the richest parts of the province, and he will do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers did: he will scatter among them plunder, spoil, and goods; and against fortresses he will devise his plans, but only until a time.

25And he will stir up his power and his heart against the king of the South with a great army, and the king of the South will engage in battle with a very great and mighty army, but he will not stand, for they will devise schemes against him.

26Those who eat his food will break him, and his army will be swept away, and many slain will fall.

27As for both of them, the kings—their hearts are set on evil, and at one table they will speak lies, but it will not succeed, for the end is still for the appointed time.

28Then he will return to his land with great wealth, but his heart will be against the holy covenant; and he will act and return to his land.

29At the appointed time he will return and come into the south, but it will not be as the former or as the latter.

30For ships of Kittim will come against him, and he will be disheartened. Then he will turn back and rage against the holy covenant, and he will act. He will turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant.

31And forces from him will arise, and they will profane the sanctuary fortress, and remove the regular burnt offering, and set up the abomination that desolates.

32He will corrupt with smooth words those who act wickedly against the covenant, but the people who know their God will stand firm and take action.

33And those among the people who have insight will give understanding to the many, but they will stumble by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder, for days.

34When they stumble, they will receive a little help, and many will join themselves to them with smooth words.

35And some of those who have insight will stumble, so that they may be refined among them, purified, and made white, until the time of the end; for it is still for the appointed time.

36And the king will do as he pleases. He will exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and against the God of gods he will speak astonishing things. And he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for what has been decreed will be done.

37He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers, or for the desire of women, or for any god, because he will magnify himself above all.

38Instead, he will honor a god of fortresses in his place; he will honor a god whom his fathers did not know with gold, silver, precious stones, and desirable things.

39And he will act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god. Those whom he acknowledges, he will increase with honor, and he will make them rule over many, and he will divide land for a price.

40At the time of the end, the king of the South will clash with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships; he will enter into the lands and sweep through and pass on.

41He will enter into the Beautiful Land, and many will stumble; but these will escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.

42He will stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape.

43And he will rule over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and Cushites will be in his train.

44But reports from the east and from the north will alarm him, and he will go out with great fury to destroy and to devote many to destruction.

45He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful holy mountain; yet he will come to his end, and there will be no one to help him.