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Conflicts to Come

¹ "In the ^(C1)first year of Darius the Mede, ^(F1)I arose to be ^(F2)an encouragement and a protection for him.² "And now I will tell you the ^(C1)truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise ^(F1)in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, ^(F2)he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of ^(F3)(C2)Greece.³ "And a ^(C1)mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and ^(C2)do as he pleases.⁴ "But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out ^(C1)toward the ^(C2)four ^(F1)points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be ^(C3)uprooted and given to others besides ^(F2)them.

⁵ "Then the ^(C1)king of the South will grow strong, ^(F1)along with one of his princes ^(F2)who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion; his domain will be a great dominion indeed.⁶ "After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the ^(C1)king of the North to carry out ^(F1)a peaceful arrangement. But she will not retain her ^(F2)position of power, nor will he remain with his ^(F3)power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.⁷ "But one of the ^(F1)descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the ^(C1)fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display great strength.⁸ "Also their ^(C1)gods with their ^(F1)metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold he will take into captivity to Egypt, and he on his part will ^(F2)refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years.⁹ "Then ^(F1)the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.

¹⁰ "His sons will ^(F1)mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and ^(C1)overflow and pass through, that he may ^(F2)again wage war up to his very fortress.¹¹ "The ^(C1)king of the South will be enraged and go forth and fight ^(F1)with the king of the North. Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be given into ^(F2)the hand of the former.¹² "When the multitude is carried away, his heart will be lifted up, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall; yet he will not prevail.¹³ "For the king of the North will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and ^(F1)after an ^(C1)interval of some years he will ^(F2)press on with a great army and much equipment.

¹⁴ "Now in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will ^(F1)fall down.¹⁵ "Then the king of the North will come, cast up a ^(C1)siege ramp and capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even ^(F1)their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand.¹⁶ "But he who comes against him will ^(C1)do as he pleases, and ^(C2)no one will be able to withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the ^(F1)(C3)Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.¹⁷ "He will ^(C1)set his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, ^(F1)bringing with him ^(F2)a proposal of peace which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it. But she will not take a stand for him or be ^(F3)on his side.¹⁸ "Then he will turn his face to the ^(C1)coastlands and capture many. But a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him; moreover, he will ^(C2)repay him for his scorn.¹⁹ "So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will ^(C1)stumble and fall and be ^(C2)found no more.

²⁰ "Then in his place one will arise who will ^(C1)send an ^(F1)oppressor through the ^(F2)Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.²¹ "In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and ^(C1)seize the kingdom by intrigue.²² "The overflowing ^(C1)forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant.²³ "After an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people.²⁴ "^(F1)In a time of tranquility he will enter the ^(C1)richest parts of the ^(F2)realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ^(F3)ancestors; he will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time.²⁵ "He will stir up his strength and ^(F1)courage against the ^(C1)king of the South with a large army; so the king of the South will mobilize an extremely large and mighty army for war; but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him.²⁶ "Those who eat his choice food will ^(F1)destroy him, and his army will ^(F2)(C1)overflow, but many will fall down slain.²⁷ "As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on ^(C1)evil, and they will ^(C2)speak lies to each other at the same table; but it will not succeed, for the ^(C3)end is still to come at the appointed time.²⁸ "Then he will return to his land with much ^(F1)plunder; but his heart will be set against the holy covenant, and he will take action and then return to his own land.

²⁹ "At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but ^(F1)this last time it will not turn out the way it did before.³⁰ "For ships of ^(F1)(C1)Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant.³¹ "Forces from him will arise, ^(C1)desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the ^(C2)abomination ^(F1)of desolation.³² "By ^(C1)smooth words he will ^(F1)turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display ^(C2)strength and take action.³³ "^(F1)(C1)Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will ^(C2)fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days.³⁴ "Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will ^(C1)join with them in ^(C2)hypocrisy.³⁵ "Some of ^(F1)those who have insight will fall, in order to ^(C1)refine, ^(C2)purge and make them ^(F2)(C3)pure until the ^(C4)end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.

³⁶ "Then the king will ^(C1)do as he pleases, and he will exalt and ^(C2)magnify himself above every god and will ^(C3)speak ^(F1)monstrous things against the ^(C4)God of gods; and he will prosper until the ^(C5)indignation is finished, for that which is ^(C6)decreed will be done.³⁷ "He will show no regard for the ^(F1)gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.³⁸ "But ^(F1)instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures.³⁹ "He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to ^(F1)those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.

⁴⁰ "At the ^(C1)end time the ^(C2)king of the South will collide with him, and the ^(C3)king of the North will ^(C4)storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, ^(C5)overflow them and pass through.⁴¹ "He will also enter the ^(F1)(C1)Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, ^(C2)Moab and the foremost of the sons of ^(C3)Ammon.⁴² "Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape.⁴³ "But he will ^(F1)gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and ^(C1)Libyans and ^(C2)Ethiopians will follow at his ^(F2)heels.⁴⁴ "But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and ^(F1)annihilate many.⁴⁵ "He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful ^(C1)Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.