CHAPTER 11

^2bLook, another three kings are to stand forth for Persia, and the fourth shall grow rich with greater wealth than all, and with his wealth he shall stir up all, even the kingdom of Greece. ³And a warrior king shall stand forth and rule very dominantly and do as he pleases. ⁴And when he stands forth, his kingdom shall be broken and divided to the four winds of the heavens and not to his offspring and not to the dominion that he had ruled, for his kingdom shall be uprooted and be for others besides these. ⁵And the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his commanders shall prevail over him and shall rule, very dominant his dominion. ⁶And at the end of some years they shall join together, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make a treaty, but she shall not retain strength, nor shall he retain strength, and she shall be given over—she and those who brought her and her begetter and her supporter in those times. ⁷And a shoot shall stand forth from her roots in his place, and he shall come to the army and enter the stronghold of the king of the north and prevail. ⁸And their gods as well with their molten images with their precious vessels of silver and gold he shall bring in captivity to Egypt, and for years he shall stand away from the king of the north. ⁹And he, he shall come into the kingdom of the king of the south and then return to his land. ¹⁰And his sons shall be stirred up and gather a crowd of many forces and surely come and sweep along and pass through. And again he shall be stirred up, as far as his stronghold. ¹¹And the king of the south shall be enraged and come out and do battle with him, with the king of the north, and he shall set out a great crowd, and the crowd shall be given into his hand. ¹²When the crowd is borne off, his heart shall be haughty, and he shall bring down tens of thousands, but he shall not be strong. ¹³And again shall the king of the north set out a crowd greater than the first, and at the end of some years he shall surely come with a great force and much paraphernalia. ¹⁴And in those times many shall stand against the king of the south, and the lawless sons of your people shall be raised up to fulfill the vision, but they shall stumble. ¹⁵And the king of the north shall come and build a siege-work and capture the fortified city, and the powers of the south shall not be able to withstand, not even his elite troops, and there shall be no strength to withstand. ¹⁶And the one who comes against him shall do as he pleases with none withstanding him, and he shall stand in the Splendid Land, with all of it in his hands. ¹⁷And he shall set his face to come in them ight of all his kingdom, and make a treaty with him, and give him a daughter in marriage to destroy him, but it shall not stand and shall not be. ¹⁸And he shall turn his face back to the coastlands, and capture many, and a consul shall put an end to his insults, even without his insult, he shall requite him. ¹⁹And he shall turn his face back to the strongholds of his land and stumble and fall and not be found. ²⁰And there shall stand in his place one who makes a tribute collector pass through the glory of the kingdom, but in a few days he shall be broken, neither in wrath nor in battle. ²¹And there shall stand in his place a contemptible man to whom the glory of the kingdom has not been given, and he shall come stealthily and grasp the kingdom through smooth talk. ²²And the sweeping powers shall be swept away before him and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant. ²³And after the joining with him he shall practice deceit, and he shall come up and grow mighty with a small force. ²⁴Stealthily shall he come into the richest provinces. He shall come and do what neither his father nor the fathers of his father had done, he shall despoil and take booty and distribute wealth to them, and against fortresses he shall lay his plans, but for a time. ²⁵And he shall rouse his strength and his heart against the king of the south, and the king of the south shall be stirred up for battle with a very great and mighty force, but he shall not withstand, for they shall lay plans against him. ²⁶And those who eat at his table shall break him and sweep away his army, and many shall fall slain. ²⁷And the two kings, their heart shall be for harm, and on a single table, deceit; for there is still an end for the appointed time. ²⁸And he shall go back to his land with great wealth, and his heart against the holy covenant. And he shall do his deeds and go back to his land. ²⁹At the appointed time, he shall again go into the south, but the second time shall not be like the first. ³⁰And ships from Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be daunted and once again rage against the holy covenant, and do his acts and look to those who abandon the holy covenant. ³¹And forces shall stand forth from him and profane the sanctuary, the stronghold, and take away the daily offering and set up the desolating abomination. ³²And those who deal wickedly with the covenant he shall flatter with smooth talk, but the people who know their God shall stand strong and act. ³³And the discerning among the people shall make the many understand, but they shall stumble for a time by the sword and by flame, by captivity, and by despoiling. ³⁴And when they stumble they shall find little support, and many shall join them with smooth talk. ³⁵And from among the discerning shall people fall, to purge them and to refine and to purify until the end, for it is still for the appointed time. ³⁶And the king shall do as he pleases, and he shall exalt himself and make himself great over every god, and against the God of gods he shall speak wondrous things, and he shall prosper till the wrath comes to an end, for what has been decreed shall be done. ³⁷And he shall not consider the gods of his fathers nor the one beloved by women, nor shall any god be considered, for over everything he shall make himself great. ³⁸But he shall honor the god of strongholds in his place, he shall honor a god that his fathers did not know, with gold and with silver and with precious stones and costly things. ³⁹And he shall act for those who fortify the strongholds, the people of an alien god whom he comes to know. He shall greatly honor them and make them rule over many and share out land at a price. ⁴⁰At the end-time the king of the south shall join battle with him and the king of the north shall storm against him with chariots and horsemen and many ships, and he shall come into the lands and sweep through and pass on. ⁴¹And he shall come into the Splendid Land, and myriads shall stumble, but these shall escape from his hand—Edom and Moab and the leadership of the Ammonites. ⁴²And he shall reach out his hand against the lands, and the land of Egypt itself shall not escape. ⁴³And he shall rule over the treasures of gold and silver and all the costly things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Nubians shall trail after him. ⁴⁴But rumors from the east and from the north shall alarm him, and he shall sally forth in great rage to destroy and to slaughter many. ⁴⁵And he shall pitch the tents of his pavilion between the sea and the splendid holy mountain, and he shall come to his end, with none to help him.