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, truth I declare to thee, Lo, yet three kings are standing for Persia, and the fourth doth become far richer than all, and according to his strength by his riches he stirreth 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 hath stood, and he hath ruled a great dominion, and hath 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 — doth become strong, and doth prevail against him, and hath 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 do join themselves together, and a daughter of the king of the south doth come in unto the king of the north to do upright things; and she doth not retain the power of the arm; and he doth 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] hath stood up from a branch of her roots, [in] his station, and he cometh in unto the bulwark, yea, he cometh into a stronghold of the king of the south, and hath wrought against them, and hath 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, into captivity he bringeth [into] Egypt; and he doth stand 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 hath come into the kingdom, and turned back unto 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 hath certainly come in, and overflowed, and passed through, and he turneth back, and they stir themselves up unto 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 doth become embittered, and hath gone forth and fought with him, with the king of the north, and hath caused a great multitude to stand, and the multitude hath 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 hath carried away the multitude, his heart is high, and he hath caused myriads to fall, and he doth 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 hath turned back, and hath caused a multitude to stand, greater than the first, and at the end of the times a second time he doth certainly come 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 do stand up against the king of the south, and sons of the destroyers of thy people do 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 cometh in, and poureth out a mount, and hath captured fenced cities; and the arms of the south do not stand, nor the people of his choice, yea, 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 unto him doth according to his will, and there is none standing before him; and he standeth 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 setteth his face to go in with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; and he hath wrought, and the daughter of women he giveth to him, to corrupt her; and she doth 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 turneth back his face to the isles, and hath captured many; and a prince hath caused his reproach of himself to cease; without his reproach he turneth [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 turneth back his face to the strongholds of his land, and hath 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 hath [one] causing an exactor to pass over the honour 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 stood up on his station hath a despicable one, and they have not given unto him the honour of the kingdom, and he hath come in quietly, and hath 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 unto him, he worketh deceit, and hath increased, and hath 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 cometh, and he hath done that which his fathers did not, nor his fathers' fathers; prey, and spoil, and substance, to them he scattereth, and against fenced places he deviseth his devices, 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 stirreth up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great force, and the king of the south stirreth himself up to battle with a very great and mighty force, and standeth not, for they devise devices 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 overfloweth, and fallen have many wounded.

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 doth 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 turneth back [to] his land with great substance, and his heart [is] against the holy covenant, and he hath wrought, 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 turneth back, and hath 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 hath been pained, and hath turned back, and hath been insolent toward the holy covenant, and hath wrought, and turned back, and he understandeth 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 out of him stand up, and have polluted 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 defileth by flatteries; and the people knowing their God are strong, and have wrought.

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 do stumble for refining by them, and for purifying, and for making white — till 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 hath done according to his will, and exalteth himself, and magnifieth himself against every god, and against the God of gods he speaketh wonderful things, and hath prospered till the indignation hath been completed, for that which is determined hath 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 unto the God of his fathers he doth not attend, nor to the desire of women, yea, to any god he doth not attend, for against all he magnifieth 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 And to the god of strongholds, on his station, he giveth honour; yea, to a god whom his fathers knew not he giveth honour, 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 hath dealt in the fortresses of the strongholds with a strange god whom he hath acknowledged; he multiplieth honour, and hath caused them to rule over many, and the ground he apportioneth 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, push himself forward with him doth a king of the south, and storm against him doth a king of the north, with chariot, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he hath come in to the lands, and hath 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 hath come into the desirable land, and many do 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 sendeth forth his hand upon 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 hath 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 hath 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 planteth the tents of his palace between the seas and the holy desirable mountain, and hath come unto 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.