Bible Time

¹IN the 1st year of Darius the Mede, the angel stood up to encourage and strengthen me. ²And he said, Now I will show you the truth. Look, there will arise yet 3 kings in Persia; and the 4th will be far richer than all of them; and when he has become powerful in his own country, he will stir up all the kingdoms of Greece. ³And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. ⁴And when he has risen, his kingdom will be broken and will be scattered toward the 4 winds of heaven; but it will not extend to its former borders nor according to his dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom will be uprooted, and there will be no kingdoms beside the divisions of this kingdom.

⁵And the king of the south and his princes will be strong, and the people will follow him, and he will rule over a great dominion. ⁶And after some years they will come to an agreement, and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make peace between them; but she will be unable to achieve her purpose because of fear; and she will surrender together with those who had brought her, her maids, and her allies at that time. ⁷But an heir from his posterity will rise over his land, and he will come with an army and might against the king of the north, and he will deal against them, and will prevail. ⁸And he will also carry away captive into Egypt their idols, with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he will rise up against the king of the north once or twice. ⁹Then the king of the south will invade the fortified cities of the king of the north, but he will return to his own land. ¹⁰But his sons will be stirred up, and will assemble a multitude of great forces; and they will attack him and sweep through the land, and will return destroying as far as his fortifications. ¹¹And the king of the south will be enraged, and will come out to fight with the king of the north; and the king of the north will raise a great army, but the army will be given into his enemy's hand. ¹²And when his enemy has destroyed the army, his heart will be exalted; and he will destroy many men, but he will not prevail. ¹³For the king of the north will return and raise an army twice the size of the former, and will come after certain years with a great army and with a strong cavalry. ¹⁴And at that time many will rise against the king of the north; the wicked men of your own people will also exalt themselves to fulfill the vision; but they will be overthrown. ¹⁵So the king of the north will come and set up ramparts and take the most strongly fortified cities; and the arms of the south will not withstand, because they have no strength to withstand, and the chosen ones of the people will rise up, but they cannot resist because they have no strength to withstand. ¹⁶But he who comes against him will do according to his own will, and no one will stand before him; and he will invade the land of Israel, and it will be delivered into his hands. ¹⁷Then he will set his face to invade the fortified places of all kingdoms, and all the people who are with him will advance; and a daughter of men will be given to him so that she might destroy him, but it will not prosper, nor will he take her to himself. ¹⁸After this he will turn his face to the islands, and will conquer many; and he will do away with a ruler who had disgraced him, and return his disgrace to him. ¹⁹Then he will turn his face toward the fortified places of the earth; but he will be overthrown and fall, and will not be found. ²⁰Then will rise up in his place a weak ruler and a vassal of the kingdoms; but within a short time he will be destroyed, not in anger nor in battle.

²¹And in his place will rise up a vile person, to whom they will not bestow the royal honor; but he will come suddenly and seize the kingdom by fraud. ²²And the fortified cities in the provinces will be plundered, and will scatter before him even the high priests of the contract. ²³And some of those who will make a league with him will work deceitfully against him. ²⁴Yet he will become strong, and ally himself with a small people and with the rich cities; and he will do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he will carry away prey and spoil and riches; yes, and he will devise plots against their provinces. ²⁵And for a time he will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great and mighty army; and the king of the south will be provoked to battle with a very great army; and he will become exceedingly strong, but he will not stand; for they will devise plots against him. ²⁶Yes, those who eat of his delicacies will destroy him, and his army will be scattered; and many will fall down slain. ²⁷And both these kings' hearts will be bent to do mischief, and they will speak lies at one table; but they will not prosper because the end will come at the time appointed. ²⁸Then he will return to his own land with a great army; and his heart will be against the holy contract; ²⁹And he will do as at the former time, even so in the latter time.

³⁰For the hosts of China will come against him; and they will defeat him, and he will return, and have indignation against the holy contract; he will have an understanding with those who had forsaken the holy contract. ³¹And their forces will rise from among themselves, and they will pollute the mighty sanctuary and will do away with the daily sacrifice, and they will place the abomination that makes desolate. ³²And those who act wickedly against the contract he will condemn; but the people who know their God will be strong. ³³And the righteous men among the people will teach many; yet they will fall by the sword and by fire, by captivity and by spoil, for 1,000 days. ³⁴Now when they fall, they will receive a little help; but many other hardships will be added to them by means of deception. ³⁵And some of the wise men will fall, to test them and to discern, even to the time of the end; for there is a long period before the appointed time is to come. ³⁶And the king will do according to his will; and he will exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and will speak great vain things against the God of gods, and will prosper until the indignation is accomplished; for that which is determined will be done. ³⁷He will not regard the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he will magnify himself above all things. ³⁸But in his estate he will honor the mighty God; and a god whom his fathers did not know he will honor with gold and silver, and with precious stones and pleasant things. ³⁹He will invade the strong provinces, fighting against strange gods, that he may see the victory and rule over many people, and he will divide the land and sell it for a price. ⁴⁰And at the time of the end the king of the south will fight against him; and the king of the north will march against him with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships; and he will invade the land. ⁴¹He will also reach the land of Israel, and many people will be slain; but these will be delivered out of his hands, even Edom and Moab and the remnant of the children of Ammon. ⁴²He will also stretch forth his hand against other countries; and the land of Egypt will not escape from his hands. ⁴³But he will have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Lybians and the Ethiopians will be his allies. ⁴⁴But rumors from the east and from the north will trouble him; therefore he will go forth with great fury to destroy and to slay many. ⁴⁵And he will pitch his royal tent in a plain between the sea and the mountain; and he will guard the holy place; and the time of his end will come, and no one will help him.