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Conflicts to Come

¹ "In the ^(C1)first year of Darius the Mede, ^(F1)I arose to be of ^(F2)assistance 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 stir up the entire 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, because his sovereignty will be ^(C3)removed 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 rule; his domain will be a great realm indeed.⁶ "And 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 reach an agreement. But she will not keep her ^(F1)position of power, nor will he remain with his ^(F2)power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who fathered 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 prevail.⁸ "And he will also take into captivity to Egypt their ^(C1)gods with their cast metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and he on his part will ^(F1)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 "And his sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and ^(C1)overflow and pass through, so that he may ^(F1)again wage war up to his fortress.¹¹ "And the ^(C1)king of the South will be enraged and go out and fight ^(F1)with the king of the North. Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be handed over to ^(F2)the former.¹² "When the multitude is carried away, his heart will ^(F1)be haughty, 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 raise themselves up to fulfill the vision, but they will ^(F1)fall down.¹⁵ "Then the king of the North will come, pile up an ^(C1)assault 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 "And he will ^(C1)set his ^(F1)mind on coming with the power of his entire kingdom, ^(F2)bringing with him ^(F3)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 ^(F4)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 taunting against him; moreover, he will ^(C2)repay him for his taunting.¹⁹ "So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will ^(C1)stumble and fall and not be ^(C2)found.

²⁰ "Then in his place one will arise who will ^(C1)allow an ^(F1)oppressor to pass through the ^(F2)Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be broken, though not in anger nor in battle.²¹ "And in his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the majesty of kingship has not been conferred; but he will come in a time of tranquility and ^(C1)seize the kingdom by intrigue.²² "And the overflowing ^(C1)forces will be flooded away from him and smashed, 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 did not, nor his ^(F3)ancestors; he will distribute plunder, spoils, and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time.²⁵ "And 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, because 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, because 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 withdraw in fear and will return and curse the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and pay attention to those who abandon 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 "And 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 be ^(C2)strong and take action.³³ "And ^(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 "And some of ^(F1)those who have insight will fall, to ^(C1)refine, ^(C2)purge, and ^(F2)(C3)cleanse them 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 himself and ^(C2)boast against every god and will ^(C3)speak ^(F1)dreadful things against the ^(C4)God of gods; and he will be successful until the ^(C5)indignation is finished, because that which is ^(C6)determined will be done.³⁷ "And he will show no regard for the ^(F1)gods of his fathers or for the ^(F2)desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will boast against 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, precious stones, and treasures.³⁹ "And 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 make them rulers over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.

⁴⁰ "And at the ^(C1)end time the ^(C2)king of the South will wage war with him, and the ^(C3)king of the North will ^(C4)storm against him with chariots, 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 reach out with 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 terrify him, and he will go out with great wrath to eliminate and ^(F1)annihilate many.⁴⁵ "And 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.