Daniel 11

1 And I in the first year of Darius the Mede had my station to assist and to protect him.

And I myself, in the first year of Darius the Mede, took my stand to support and defend him.

2 And now will I tell thee the truth. Behold, there will stand up yet three kings of Persia: and the fourth will obtain far greater riches than all [these]: and when he is strong through his riches will he stir up all, [namely, ] the kingdom of Javan.

So now let me reveal the truth to you. There are still three kings to come to power in Persia, and then a fourth who will be far richer than all the others. When he becomes strong through his wealth, he will rally the whole kingdom against Greece.

3 And then will stand up a mighty king, who will rule with great dominion, and do according to his pleasure.

Then a mighty king will come to power. He will rule with great authority and do whatever he wants.

4 And when he shall have stood, his kingdom will be broken, and will be divided toward the four winds of the heavens, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom will be torn asunder even for others beside those.

But as he extends his power his kingdom will be broken up, divided towards the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, and it will not be ruled as he ruled. It will be pulled up and given to others.

5 And the king of the south will become strong, yea, he who is one of his princes; but [another] will become strong against him, and will rule: a great dominion will his dominion be.

The king of the south will grow strong, but one of his officers will grow even stronger and will rule his kingdom with great authority.

6 But at the end of [some] years will they associate themselves together; and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make a settlement of difficulties; but she will not retain the power of the support; neither will he stand, nor his support: but she will be given up with those that had brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in those times.

Some years later they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south will be married to the king of the north to guarantee the peace treaty. However, she will not be able to keep her hold on power, nor will his power continue. She and her attendants will be betrayed, along with her child and husband. Later on, however,

7 But there will up a sprout of her roots in his place, and he will come to the army, and will enter into the stronghold of the king of the north, and will deal with them, and prevail:

a new king of the south from her family will take over. He will come to attack the army of the king of the north and enter his fortress. He will fight against them and will win.

8 And also their gods with their molten images, with their precious vessels of silver and of gold, will he carry into captivity to Egypt; and he will stand off some years from the king of the north.

In addition he will take back with him to Egypt the idols of their gods, along with their expensive vessels of silver and gold. For some years he will leave the king of the north alone.

9 But this one will then enter the kingdom of the king of the south, and then return into his own land.

Then the king of the north will march into the kingdom of the king of the south but will have to retreat to his own land.

10 But his sons will commence a war, and assemble a multitude of great armies; and one will certainly enter, and overflow, and pass along: then will he return, and make war again, even to his stronghold.

However, his sons will prepare for war, assembling a huge number of troops. One of them will lead an advance that rushes forward like a river bursting its banks, crossing over and pressing forward to attack the enemy fortress.

11 And the king of the south will be moved with bitter wrath, and go forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he will set forth a great multitude; but the multitude [of the other] will be given up into his hand.

This will infuriate the king of the south, who will go out into battle against the large army assembled by the king of the north and will defeat it.

12 And the multitude will be lifted up, and his heart will become proud; and he will cast down myriads; but he will not be strengthened by it.

After capturing such a large army, he will become very proud, and will kill thousands. But this triumph will not last long.

13 And the king of the north will return, and set forth a multitude greater than the former; and at the end of the times, of years, will he certainly come with a great army and with much riches.

Years later the king of the north will once again raise an army, even larger than before, and will invade with this huge army, accompanied by plenty of supplies.

14 And in those times many will stand up against the king of the south: also the rebellious sons of thy people will lift themselves up to establish the vision; but they will stumble.

At the same time many will rebel against the king of the south. Violent men from your own people will rebel in order to fulfill this vision, but they shall fail.

15 And the king of the north will come, and cast up a mound, and capture the city defended by fortifications: and the arms of the south will not withstand, and as regardeth his chosen people, there will be no power [in them] to withstand.

Then the king of the north will come and build siege ramps and he will capture a city with strong defenses. The forces of the south will not be able to prevent it—even his best troops won't be able to resist the attack.

16 But he that cometh against them will do according to his pleasure, and none will stand before him; and he will place himself in the glorious land, which will be altogether in his hand.

The invader will do whatever he wants; no one will be able to oppose him. He will stand in the Beautiful Land with the power to destroy it.

17 He will also direct his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, having professions of peace with him; and thus will he do it: and he will give him the daughter of his wife to destroy it: but it will not stand, and it will not remain his.

He will be determined to come with all the power of his kingdom and will make a peace treaty with the king of the south. To secure this he will give him a daughter of women to marry in order to destroy the kingdom. But she will not be successful and will not support him.

18 And he will direct his face unto the isles, and capture many; but a chieftain will cause to cease his reproach against him: without his giving back to him his own reproach.

Then he will turn to attack the coastlands and will conquer many, but a commander will put a stop to his arrogant behavior, paying him back for it.

19 Then will he direct his face toward the strong-holds of his own land; but he will stumble and fall, and will no more be found.

He will return to the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall, and will be gone.

20 And there will stand up in his place one who will cause the exactor [of taxes] to pass through the glorious [land] of the kingdom; but within a few days will he be broken, but not in anger, nor in battle.

His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain royal wealth. However, in a short time he will die, but not violently or in battle.

21 And there will stand up in his place a despicable person, to whom they assigned not the honor of the kingdom; but he will come in quietly, and lay hold of the kingdom by flatteries.

A contemptible person will follow him who will not be given royal majesty. He will take over peacably and assume control of the kingdom through deception.

22 And the powers of the overflow will be swept away from before him, and will be broken: yea, so also the prince in covenant [with him].

Great armies will be swept away before him. They will be broken, as well as the prince of the agreement.

23 And from the time of his associating with him will he deal deceitfully; and he will come up, and obtain the victory with a small number of people.

After making an alliance with him, he will act deceptively. He will come to power peacably, becoming strong though only having a few supporters.

24 In quiet and into the fattest portion of the province will he enter; and he will do what his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers: the prey, and spoil, and riches will he divide freely to them, and against the strong-holds will he devise his plans, but only till a certain time.

He will invade the richest parts of the land and do what his fathers and forefathers never did—he will distribute plunder, spoil, and possessions. He will make plans to attack fortresses, but only for a time.

25 And he will then stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army: and the king of the south will prepare himself for the war with an exceedingly great and mighty army; but he will not stand; for they will devise [evil] plans against him.

Then he will draw on his strength and courage to gather a large army against the king of the south. The king of the south will prepare for war. Fighting back with a large and powerful army, but he will not be successful because of plots made against him.

26 Yea, they that eat of his food will bring his downfall, and the army of the other will overflow; and many will fall down slain.

Those closest to him will destroy him. His army will be wiped out—many will fall in battle.

27 And as for both these kings, their heart is bent on mischief, and at one table will they speak lies; but it shall not prosper; for the end is yet for the time appointed.

The two kings, with evil intentions, will tell each other lies even as they sit together at the same table. But their scheming is pointless—the end will come at the time predicted.

28 Then will he return into his land with great riches, and his heart will be against the holy covenant: and he will do it, and return to his own land.

The king of the north will return to his own country with all the wealth he has looted. He will be determined to attack the people of the holy agreement, and do all he can to destroy it before returning to his own country.

29 At the time appointed will he return, and enter into the south; but not as in the former will it be in the latter time.

At the time predicted he will return to invade the south again, but this time it won't be like before.

30 For there will come against him the ships of Kittim; and he will become faint-hearted, and return, and will rage against the holy covenant; and he will do it: and he will return, and have an understanding with those that forsake the holy covenant.

Ships from Cyprus will come to attack him, frightening him off so that he retreats. But this will make him mad, and he will attack the people of the holy agreement, recognizing those who abandon their commitment to the holy agreement.

31 And the army divisions will proceed from him, and they will defile the sanctuary, the fortress, and remove the continual sacrifice, and they will set up the desolating abomination.

His forces will occupy and defile the Temple fortress. They will put a stop to the continual service, and set up a form of idolatry that causes devastation.

32 And such as act wickedly against the covenant will he corrupt by flatteries; but the people that do know their God will be strong, and deal [valiantly].

The king will use flattery to corrupt those who break the solemn agreement, but the people who know their God will stand firm in their resistance.

33 And the intelligent among the people will impart understanding to many: yet they will stumble through the sword, and through flame, through captivity, and through being plundered for some time.

Wise leaders of the people will teach many, though for a time they will be killed by sword and fire, or they will be imprisoned and robbed.

34 But in their stumbling will they be aided with a little help: but many will join themselves to them with deceptive flatteries.

During this time of persecution they will receive a little help, and many who join them won't be sincere.

35 And some of the intelligent will stumble, to make a purification among them, and to select and to cleanse them, until the time of the end; because it is yet for the time appointed.

Some of the wise will be killed, so that they may be refined and purified and cleansed until the time of the end, for the predicted time is still to come.

36 And the king will do according to his pleasure; and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and against the God of gods will he speak incredible things, and he will prosper till the indignation be at an end; for that which is determined will be accomplished.

The king will do whatever he wants, praising himself and considering himself greater than any god, even saying outrageous things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of anger has finished, for what has been decided will be accomplished.

37 And to the gods of his fathers will he pay no regard; and to the desire of women, or to any god whatever will he not pay any regard; for above all will he magnify himself.

He will have no time for the gods of his forefathers, nor for the one loved by women, nor for any other god, for he considers himself greater than any of these.

38 But in his place he will pay honor to the god of the fortresses; and to a god whom his fathers knew not will he pay honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and costly things.

Instead he will honor the god of fortresses—a god unknown to his forefathers—giving him offerings of gold and silver and precious stones and expensive gifts.

39 This will he do for the very strong fortresses together with the strange god: whoever will acknowledge him, him will he give much honor; and he will cause such to rule over many, and he will divide out the land for a price.

He will deal with strong fortresses with the help of this foreign god. He will give riches to those who acknowledge him, making them rulers over the people, and distributing the land at a price.

40 And at the time of the end will the king of the south push against him; and the king of the north will come against him like a storm-wind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter into some countries, and will overflow and press along.

At the time of the end the king of the south will attack him. But the king of the north will retaliate with force like a storm, with chariots and horsemen and many ships. He will advance, sweeping through many lands.

41 And he will enter into the glorious land, and much will be overthrown; but these will escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the first portion of the children of 'Ammon.

He will invade the Beautiful Land and kill many people there. However, Moab, Edom, and most of the Ammonites will escape his power.

42 And he will stretch forth his hand against some countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape.

He will extend his attacks against different countries—even the land of Egypt will not be able to escape.

43 And he will have control over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the costly things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians will follow at his steps.

He will acquire the gold and silver and riches of Egypt, ruling over them and also the Libyans and Ethiopians.

44 But reports out of the east and out of the north will terrify him; and he will go forth with great fury to destroy, and to exterminate many.

But news from the east and the north will alarm him, and in a furious rage he will set out to destroy and exterminate many people.

45 And he will pitch the tents of his palace between seas and the glorious holy mountain; and he will come to his end, without one to help him.

He will set up his royal camp between the sea and the beautiful holy mountain. But he will die with no one to help him.