1 IN the first year of Darius the Mede, the angel stood up to encourage and strengthen me.

2 And he said, Now I will show you the truth. Behold, there shall arise yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than all of them; and when he has become powerful in his own country, he shall stir up all the kingdoms of Greece.

3 And a mighty king shall arise, and he shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.

4 And when he has risen, his kingdom shall be broken and shall be scattered toward the four winds of heaven; but it will not extend to its former borders nor according to his dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be uprooted, and there shall be no kingdoms beside the divisions of this kingdom.

5 land the king of the south and his princes shall be strong, and the people shall follow him, and he shall rule over a great dominion.

6 And after some years they shall come to an agreement, and the daughter of the king of the south shall 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 shall surrender together with those who had brought her, her maids, and her allies at that time.

7 But an heir from his posterity shall rise over his land, and he shall come with an army and might against the king of the north, and he shall deal against them, and shall prevail.

8 And he shall also carry away captive into Egypt their idols, with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall rise up against the king of the north once or twice.

9 Then the king of the south shall invade the fortified cities of the king of the north, but he shall return to his own land.

10 But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces; and they shall attack him and sweep through the land, and shall return destroying as far as his fortifications.

11 And the king of the south shall be enraged, and shall come forth to fight with the king of the north; and the king of the north shall raise a great army, but the army shall be given into his enemy's hand.

12 And when his enemy has destroyed the army, his heart shall be exalted; and he shall destroy many men, but he shall not prevail.

13 For the king of the north shall return and raise an army twice the size of the former, and shall come after certain years with a great army and with a strong cavalry.

14 And at that time many shall rise against the king of the north; also the wicked men of your own people shall exalt themselves to fulfil the vision; but they shall be overthrown.

15 So the king of the north shall come and set up ramparts and take the most strongly fortified cities; and the arms of the south shall not withstand, because they have no strength to withstand, and the chosen ones of the people shall rise up, but they cannot resist because they have no strength to withstand.

16 But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall invade the land of Israel, and it shall be delivered into his hands.

17 Then he shall set his face to invade the fortified places of all kingdoms, and all the people who are with him shall advance; and a daughter of men shall be given to him so that she might destroy him, but it shall not prosper, nor shall he take her to himself.

18 After this he shall turn his face to the islands, and shall conquer many; and he shall do away with a ruler who had reproached him, and return his reproach to him.

19 Then he shall turn his face toward the fortified places of the earth; but he shall be overthrown and fall, and shall not be found.

20 Then shall rise up in his place a weak ruler and a vassal of the kingdoms; but within a short time he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle.

21 And in his place shall rise up a vile person, to whom they shall not bestow the royal honor; but he shall come suddenly and seize the kingdom by fraud.

22 And the fortified cities in the provinces shall be plundered, and shall scatter before him even the high priests of the covenant.

23 And some of those who will make a league with him shall work deceitfully against him.

24 And yet he shall become strong, and ally himself with a small people and with the rich cities; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall carry away prey and spoil and riches; yea, and he shall devise plots against their provinces.

25 And for a time he shall 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 shall be provoked to battle with a very great army; and he shall become exceedingly strong, but he shall not stand; for they shall devise plots against him.

26 Yea, those who eat of his delicacies shall destroy him, and his army shall be scattered; and many shall fall down slain.

27 And both these kings' hearts shall be bent to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but they shall not prosper because the end shall come at the time appointed.

28 Then he shall return to his own land with a great army; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant;

29 And he shall do as at the former time, even so in the latter time.

30 For the hosts of China shall come against him; and they shall defeat him, and he shall return, and have indignation against the holy covenant; he shall have an understanding with those who had forsaken the holy covenant.

31 And their forces shall rise from among themselves, and they shall pollute the mighty sanctuary and shall do away with the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate.

32 And those who act wickedly against the covenant shall he condemn; but the people who know their God shall be strong.

33 And the righteous men among the people shall teach many; yet they shall fall by the sword and by fire, by captivity and by spoil, for a thousand days.

34 Now when they fall, they shall receive a little help; but many other hardships shall be added to them by means of deception.

35 And some of the wise men shall 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.

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

37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all things.

38 But in his estate shall he honor the mighty God; and a god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, and with precious stones and pleasant things.

39 He shall invade the strong provinces, fighting against strange gods, that he may see the victory and rule over many people, and he shall divide the land and sell it for a price.

40 And at the time of the end the king of the south shall fight against him; and the king of the north shall march against him with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships; and he shall invade the land.

41 He shall reach also the land of Israel, and many people shall be slain; but these shall be delivered out of his hands, even Edom and Moab and the remnant of the children of Ammon.

42 He shall stretch forth his hand also against other countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape from his hands.

43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Lybians and the Ethiopians shall be his allies.

44 But rumors from the east and from the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and to slay many.

45 And he shall pitch his royal tent in a plain between the sea and the mountain; and he shall guard the holy place; and the time of his end shall come, and none shall help him.