 1 I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I was standing for a supporter and for a fortress for him. 2 Now I will declare to you the truth. Behold, there will stand up yet three kings in Persia. And the fourth will be far richer than all of them. And by his strength, through his riches, he will stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. 3 A mighty king will stand up, one who will rule with great power and do according to his will. 4 When he will stand up, his kingdom will be broken and will be divided toward the four winds of the heavens. And it will not be given to his sons, nor according to his power with which he ruled. For his kingdom will be pulled up, even for others besides these. 5 The king of the south will be strong and one of his rulers will overcome him and have power. His kingdom will be a great kingdom. 6 In the end of years they will join together. For the king's daughter of the south will come to the king of the north to make a treaty. But she will not keep the power of the arm, nor will he stand, nor his arm. But she will be given up, and those who brought her in, and her father, and he who made her strong in these times. 7 But out of a branch of her roots, one will stand up in his place, who will come with an army and will enter into the fortress of the king of the north. And he will act against them, and show himself strong. 8 He will also carry their gods captives with their molten images into Egypt, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold. And he will stand for years away from the king of the north. 9 So the king of the south will come into his kingdom, and will return into his own land. 10 But his sons will be stirred up and will gather a multitude of great forces. And one will certainly come and overflow, and pass through. Then he will return and be stirred up, even to his fortress. 11 The king of the south will be bitter, and will come out and fight with him, even with the king of the north. And he will send out a great multitude. But the multitude will be given into his hand. 12 When he has taken away the multitude, his heart will be lifted up. And he will cast down many ten thousands, but he will not be made stronger. 13 For the king of the north will return, and will send out a multitude greater than the former, and at the end of times, years, will come with a great army and with much equipment. 14 In those times there will stand up many against the king of the south. Also the robbers of your people will rise up to establish the vision, but they will fall. 15 So the king of the north will come, and cast up a siege mound, and take a fortified city. And the arms of the south will not hold out, nor his chosen people, nor will be any strength to hold out. 16 But he who comes against him will do according to his own will, and none will stand before him. And he will stand in the glorious land that will be destroyed by his hand. 17 He also will set his face to enter with the strength of all his kingdom, and upright ones with him. So he will do. He will give the daughter of women to him, to destroy it. But she will not stand, nor be for him. 18 He will turn his face to the coastlands, and will capture many. But a ruler will make cease his reproach for him, but his reproach will return to him. 19 He will turn his face to the fortresses of his land. But he will stumble and fall, and will not be found. 20 One who sends an exacter will stand in his place, for the glory of the kingdom. But within few days he will be broken, not in anger nor in battle. 21 A despised one will stand up in his place and they will not give to him the honor of the king. But he will enter while at ease and seize the kingdom by intrigue. 22 The forces of the overflow will be swept from before him and they will be broken and also the ruler of a covenant. 23 After they join him, he will use deceit. For he will come and be strong with a few people. 24 He will enter safely, even into the rich places of the province. And he will do what his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers. He will plunder, and spoil, and scatter goods among them. And he will devise his plots against the strongholds, even for a time. 25 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 be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army, but he will not stand. For they will devise plots against him. 26 Yes, those who eat his food will break him, and his army will overflow. And many will fall down slain. 27 Both these kings' hearts will be to do evil, and they will speak lies at one table. But it will not succeed. For still the end comes at the time appointed. 28 He will return to his land with great riches. And his heart will be against the holy covenant. And he will act, and he will return to his land. 29 At the time appointed he will return and come against the south. But it will not be as the former or as the latter. 30 For the ships of Kittim will come against him. And he will be grieved and return, and have fury against the holy covenant. So he will do. He will even return and give heed to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 Forces will stand from him, and they will profane the sanctuary, the fortress, and will remove the daily sacrifice, and they will place the desolating abomination. 32 He will ruin by flattery those who do evil against the covenant. But the people who know their God will be strong and will work. 33 Those who understand among the people will teach many. Yet they will fall by the sword, and by flame, by exile, and spoil, for days. 34 When they stumble, they will be helped with a little help, but many will join them, with hypocrisy. 35 And many of those who understand will stumble, to refine and purge them, and to make white, to the time of the end. Because it is still for the appointed time. 36 The king will do according to his will. And he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and will speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and will prosper until the fury is fulfilled. For what is decreed will be done. 37 He will not regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god. For he will magnify himself above all. 38 But in his place he will honor the god of forces. And a god whom his fathers did not know, he will honor with gold and silver, and with precious stones and desirable things. 39 So he will act in the fortresses of the strongholds with a strange god, whom he will acknowledge. He will multiply in glory, and he will cause them to rule over many, and will divide the land for a price. 40 At the end time, the king of the south will butt at him. And the king of the north will come against him like a tempest, with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships. 41 He will enter into the glorious land and many countries and will be overthrown. But these will escape out of his hand: Edom and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42 He will stretch out his hand on the lands. And the land of Egypt will not escape. 43 But he will have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. And the Libyans and the Ethiopians will be at his steps. 44 But news out of the east and out of the north will trouble him. Then he will go out with great fury to destroy, and to devote many to destruction. 45 He will plant his palace tents between the seas in the glorious holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and none will help him.
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