1   I have no ally on my side to help and support me, ^note except Michael your prince. ^noteHowever I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. 2   Here and now I will tell you what is true:

‘Three more kings will appear in Persia, and the fourth will far surpass all the others in wealth; and when he has extended his power through his wealth, he will rouse the whole world against the kingdom of Greece. 3   Then there will appear a warrior king. He will rule a vast kingdom and will do what he chooses. 4   But as soon as he is established, his kingdom will be shattered and split up north, south, east and west. It will not pass to his descendants, nor will any of his successors have an empire like his; his kingdom will be torn up by the roots and given to others as well as to them. 5   Then the king of the south will become strong; but another of the captains will surpass him in strength and win a greater kingdom. 6   In due course the two will enter into a friendly alliance; to redress the balance the daughter of the king of the south will be given in marriage to the king of the north, but she will not maintain her influence and their line will not last. She and her escort, her child, and also her lord and master, will all be the victims of foul play. 7   Then another shoot from the same stock as hers will appear in his father's place, will penetrate the defences of the king of the north and enter his fortress, and will win a decisive victory over his people. 8   He will take back as booty to Egypt even the images of their gods cast in metal and their precious vessels of silver and gold. Then for some years he will refrain from attacking the king of the north. 9   After that the king of the north will overrun the southern kingdom but will retreat to his own land.

10   ‘His sons will press on to assemble a great armed horde. One of them will sweep on and on like an irresistible flood. And after that he will press on as far as his enemy's stronghold. 11   The king of the south, his anger roused, will march out to do battle with the king of the north

Daniel's visions who, in turn, will raise a great horde, but it will be delivered into the hands of his enemy. 12   When this horde has been captured, the victor will be elated and he will slaughter tens of thousands, yet he will not maintain his advantage. 13   Then the king of the north will once more raise a horde even greater than the last and, when the years come round, will advance with a great army and a large baggage-train. 14   During these times many will resist the king of the south, but some hotheads among your own people will rashly attempt to give substance to a vision and will come to disaster. 15   Then the king of the north will come and throw up siege-ramps and capture a fortified town, and the forces of the south will not stand up to him; even the flower of their army will not be able to hold their ground. 16   And so his adversary will do as he pleases and meet with no opposition. He will establish himself in the fairest of all lands and it will come wholly into his power. 17   He will resolve to subjugate all the dominions of the king of the south; and he will come to fair terms with him, ^note and he will give him a young woman in marriage, for the destruction of the kingdom; but she will not persist nor serve his purpose. 18   Then he will turn to the coasts and islands and take many prisoners, but a foreign commander ^note will be put an end to his challenge by wearing him down; ^note thus he will throw back his challenge on to him. 19   He will fall back upon his own strongholds; there he will come to disaster and be overthrown and be seen no more.

20   ‘He will be succeeded by one who will send out an officer with a royal escort to extort tribute; after a short time this king too will meet his end, yet neither openly nor in battle.

21   ‘A contemptible creature will succeed but will not be given recognition as king; yet he will seize the kingdom by dissimulation and intrigue in time of peace. 22   He will sweep away all forces of opposition as he advances, and even the Prince of the Covenant will be broken. 23   He will enter into fraudulent alliances and, although the people behind him are but few, 24   he will rise to power and establish himself in time of peace. He will overrun the richest districts of the province and succeed in doing what his fathers and forefathers failed to do, distributing spoil, booty, and property to his followers. He will lay his plans against fortresses, but only for a time.

25   ‘He will rouse himself in all his strength and courage and lead a great army against the king of the south, but the king of the south will press the campaign against him with a very great and numerous army; yet the king of the south will not persist, for traitors will lay their plots. 26   Those who eat at his board will be his undoing; his army will be swept away, and many will fall on the field of battle. 27   The two kings will be bent on

Daniel's visions mischief and, sitting at the same table, they will lie to each other with advantage to neither. Yet there will still be an end to the appointed time. 28   Then one will return home with a long baggage-train, and with anger in his heart against the Holy Covenant; he will work his will and return to his own land.

29   ‘At the appointed time he will once more overrun the south, but he will not succeed as he did before. 30   Ships from the west ^note will sail against him, and he will receive a rebuff. He will turn and vent his fury against the Holy Covenant; on his way back he will take due note of those who have forsaken it. 31   Armed forces dispatched by him will desecrate the sanctuary and the citadel and do away with the regular offering. And there they will set up “the abominable thing that causes desolation”. 32   He will win over by plausible promises those who are ready to condemn the covenant, but the people who are faithful to their God will hold firm and fight back. 33   Wise leaders of the nation will give guidance to the common people; yet for a while they will fall victims to fire and sword, to captivity and pillage. 34   But these victims will not want for help, though small, even if many who join them are insincere. 35   Some of these leaders will themselves fall victims for a time so that they may be tested, refined and made shining white. Yet there will still be an end ^note to the appointed time. 36   The king will do what he chooses; he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and against the God of gods he will utter monstrous blasphemies. All will go well for him until the time of wrath ends, for what is determined must be done. 37   He will ignore his ancestral gods, and the god beloved of women; to no god will he pay heed but will exalt himself above them all. 38   Instead he will honour the god of the citadel, ^note a god unknown to his ancestors, with gold and silver, gems and costly gifts. 39   He will garrison his strongest fortresses with aliens, the people of a foreign god. Those whom he favours he will load with honour, putting them in office over the common people and distributing land at a price.

40   ‘At the time of the end, he and the king of the south will make feints at one another, and the king of the north will come storming against him with chariots and cavalry and many ships. He will overrun land after land, 41   sweeping over them like a flood, amongst them the fairest of all lands, and tens of thousands shall fall victims. Yet all these lands [including Edom and Moab and the remnant ^note of the Ammonites] will survive his attack. 42   He will reach out to land after land, and Egypt will not escape. 43   He will gain control of her hidden stores of gold and silver and of all her treasures; Libyans and Cushites will follow in his train. 44   Then rumours from east and north will alarm him, and he will depart

Daniel's visions in a great rage to destroy and to exterminate many. 45   He will pitch his royal pavilion between the sea and the holy hill, the fairest of all hills; and he will meet his end with no one to help him.

Previous section

Next section