1 And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood to encourage and to strengthen him.
2 And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall yet be three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall obtain far greater riches than they all; and by his strengthening himself with his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. 3 And a valiant king shall stand up, that shall rule over a great dominion and do according to his will. 4 But when he is reigning, his kingdom shall be broken and shall be divided by the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion by which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.
5 And the king of the south, {this Hebrew word is identified with the people of God}, and of his principalities, shall make himself strong; and he shall exceed him and make himself powerful; his dominion shall be a great dominion. 6 But at the end of some years they shall join themselves together; for the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement, but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm; for she shall be given up and those that brought her and he that begat her, and those that were for her in this time.
7 But of the new shoot from her roots shall one stand up upon his throne and shall come unto the army and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north and do in them according to his will and shall prevail: 8 and even their gods, with their princes, with their precious vessels of silver and of gold, shall be taken captive in Egypt; and for some years he shall maintain himself against the king of the north. 9 Thus shall the king of the south enter into the kingdom and return to his own land.
10 But the sons of that one shall be stirred up and shall assemble a multitude of great armies and shall come in great haste, and overflow and pass through and turn and come with wrath unto his fortress. 11 Therefore the king of the south shall become furious and shall come forth and fight with him even with the king of the north; and he shall put a great multitude into the field, but all that multitude shall be given into his hand. 12 Therefore the multitude shall be filled with pride, his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many thousands, but he shall not prevail. 13 And the king of the north shall put another multitude greater than the former in the field and at the end of a time of some years shall come in great haste with a great army and with much riches.
14 But in those times many shall stand up against the king of the south, and sons of robbers of thy people shall raise themselves up to establish the vision, but they shall fall. 15 So the king of the north shall come and cast up a mount and shall take the strong cities, and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any fortress that can withstand. 16 And he that comes against him shall do according to his own will, and there shall be no one that can stand before him, and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. 17 He shall then set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom and shall do upright things with him, and he shall give him a daughter of his women to persuade her, but she shall not stand, neither be for him. 18 After this he shall turn his face unto the isles and shall take many, but a prince shall cause him to cease his affront and shall even turn his reproach upon him. 19 Then he shall turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and not appear again.
20 Then shall succeed in his throne a taker of taxes who shall be the glory of the kingdom, but within few days he shall be broken, neither in anger, nor in battle. 21 And a vile person shall succeed in his place, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: nevertheless he shall come in with peace and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 And with the arms they shall be overflown of a flood before him and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. 23 And after the union made with him he shall work deceit and shall rise and shall overcome with few people. 24 With the province in peace and in abundance, he shall enter and do that which his fathers have never done, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall distribute prey and spoil and riches to his soldiers; and against the fortresses he shall forecast his devices, even for a time. 25 And he shall stir up his forces and his heart against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall move to the war with a great and mighty army, but he shall not prevail, for they shall betray him. 26 Even those that ate his bread shall break him, and his army shall be destroyed; and many shall fall down slain. 27 And the heart of both these kings shall be to do evil, and at the same table they shall speak lies; but it shall not prosper, for the time appointed is not yet come. 28 Then he shall return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits and return to his own land.
29 At the time appointed he shall turn toward the south, but the latter coming shall not be as the former. 30 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved and return and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return and have an understanding with those that have forsaken the holy covenant. 31 And arms shall be placed on his behalf, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate. 32 And with flatteries he shall cause to sin those that violate the covenant, but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. 33 And the wise among the people shall give wisdom to many, yet they shall fall by the sword, and by fire, by captivity, and by spoil, for some days. 34 And in their fall, they shall be helped with a little help, but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 35 And some of the wise shall fall to be purged and cleaned and made white, even to the time of the end because even for this there is time appointed.
36 And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god and shall speak marvels against the God of gods and shall prosper until the indignation is accomplished, for the determination has been made. 37 Neither shall he care for the God of his fathers, nor the love of women, nor care for any god, for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 But in his place shall he honour the god of fortresses, {Ala Mahozim}, a god whom his fathers did not know; he shall honour it with gold and silver and precious stones and with things of great price. 39 And with the people of the strange god that he shall know, he shall make strong fortresses, increase their glory; and cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.
40 But at the end of the time the king of the south shall lock horns with him, and the king of the north shall raise up a storm against him with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships, and he shall enter into the lands and shall overflow and pass over. 41 He shall come to the glorious land, and many provinces shall fall, but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom and Moab and the first of the sons of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch forth his hand to the lands, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 And he shall take over the treasures of gold and of silver and of all the precious things of Egypt, of Libya, and Ethiopia where he passes. 44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and to kill many. 45 And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas, in the desirable mountain of the sanctuary; and he shall come to his end, and shall have no one to help him.