Daniel 11

1 “And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, my standing [is] for a strengthener, and for a stronghold to him;

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

2 and now, I declare to you truth: Behold, yet three kings are standing for Persia, and the fourth becomes far richer than all, and according to his strength by his riches he stirs up the whole, with 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 a mighty king has stood, and he has ruled a great dominion, and has done according to his will;

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

4 and according to his standing is his kingdom broken, and divided to the four winds of the heavens, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion that he ruled, for his kingdom is plucked up—and for others apart from these.

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 a king of the south—even of his princes—becomes strong, and prevails against him, and has ruled; a great dominion [is] his dominion.

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 And at the end of years they join themselves together, and a daughter of the king of the south comes to the king of the north to do upright things; and she does not retain the power of the arm; and he does not stand, nor his arm; and she is given up, she, and those bringing her in, and her child, and he who is strengthening her in [these] 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 And [one] has stood up from a branch of her roots, [in] his station, and he comes to the bulwark, indeed, he comes into a stronghold of the king of the north, and has worked against them, and has done mightily;

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 princes, with their desirable vessels of silver and gold, he brings in captivity [to] Egypt; and he stands more years than 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 And the king of the south has come into the kingdom, and turned back to 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 and his sons stir themselves up, and have gathered a multitude of great forces, and he has certainly come in, and overflowed, and passed through, and he turns back, and they stir themselves up 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 becomes embittered, and has gone forth and fought with him, with the king of the north, and has caused a great multitude to stand, and the multitude has been given 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 he has carried away the multitude, his heart is high, and he has caused myriads to fall, and he does not become strong.

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 has turned back, and has caused a multitude to stand, greater than the first, and at the end of the times a second time he certainly comes in with a great force, and with much substance;

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 stand up against the king of the south, and sons of the destroyers of your people lift themselves up to establish the vision—and they have stumbled.

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 comes in, and pours out a mound, and has captured fortified cities; and the arms of the south do not stand, nor the people of his choice, indeed, there is no power to stand.

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 And he who is coming to him does according to his will, and there is none standing before him; and he stands in the desirable land, and [it is] wholly 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 And he sets his face to go in with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; and he has worked, and the daughter of women he gives to him, to corrupt her; and she does not stand, nor is for him.

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 turns back his face to the islands, and has captured many; and a prince has caused his reproach of himself to cease; without his reproach he turns [it] back to him.

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 And he turns back his face to the strongholds of his land, and has stumbled and fallen, and is not found.

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

20 And stood up on his station has [one] causing an exactor to pass over the honor of the kingdom, and in a few days he is destroyed, and 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 a despicable one has stood up on his station, and they have not given to him the splendor of the kingdom, and he has come in quietly, and has strengthened 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 arms of the flood are overflowed from before him, and are broken; and also the leader of the covenant.

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

23 And after they join themselves to him, he works deceit, and has increased, and has been strong by a few of the nation.

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 Peaceably even into the fertile places of the province He comes, and he has done that which his fathers did not, nor his fathers’ fathers; prey, and spoil, and substance, he scatters to them, and against fortifications he devises his plans, even for a 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 stirs up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great force, and the king of the south stirs himself up to battle with a very great and mighty force, and does not stand, for they devise 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 and those eating his portion of food destroy him, and his force overflows, and many wounded have fallen.

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

27 And both of the kings’ hearts [are] to do evil, and at one table they speak lies, and it does not prosper, for yet the end [is] at a 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 And he turns back [to] his land with great substance, and his heart [is] against the holy covenant, and he has worked, and turned back to his 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 appointed time he turns back, and has come against the south, and it is not as the former, and as the latter.

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

30 And ships of Chittim have come in against him, and he has been pained, and has turned back, and has been insolent toward the holy covenant, and has worked, and turned back, and he understands concerning those forsaking 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 strong ones stand up out of him, and have defiled the sanctuary, the stronghold, and have turned aside the continual [sacrifice], and appointed 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 those acting wickedly [against] the covenant, he defiles by flatteries; and the people knowing their God are strong, and have worked.

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 teachers of the people give understanding to many; and they have stumbled by sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil—days.

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 And in their stumbling, they are helped—a little help, and joined to them have been many with 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 teachers stumble for refining by them, and for purifying, and for making white—until the end of the time, for [it is] yet for a 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 has done according to his will, and exalts himself, and magnifies himself against every god, and he speaks wonderful things against the God of gods, and has prospered until the indignation has been completed, for that which is determined has been done.

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 God of his fathers he does not attend, nor to the desire of women, indeed, he does not attend to any god, for he magnifies himself against all.

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 And to the god of strongholds, on his station, he gives honor; indeed, to a god whom his fathers did not know he gives honor, with gold, and with silver, and with precious stone, and with desirable 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 And he has dealt in the fortresses of the strongholds with a strange god whom he has acknowledged; he multiplies honor, and has caused them to rule over many, and the ground he apportions at 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, a king of the south pushes himself forward with him, and a king of the north storms against him, with chariot, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he has come into the lands, and has overflowed, and passed over,

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 has come into the desirable land, and many stumble, and these escape from his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the sons 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 sends forth his hand on the lands, and the land of Egypt is not for an escape;

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

43 and he has ruled over treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the desirable things of Egypt, and Lubim and Cushim [are] at his steps.

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

44 And reports trouble him out of the east and out of the north, and he has gone forth in great fury to destroy, and to devote many to destruction;

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 plants the tents of his palace between the seas and the holy desirable mountain, and has come to his end, and there is no helper to 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.