1 And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood to strengthen and protect him.)

2 And now I will declare the truth to you: Behold, three more kings shall stand up in Persia; and the fourth shall be rich in all greater riches. And when he is strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece.

3 And a mighty king shall stand up who shall rule with great authority and do according to his will.

4 And when he stands up his kingdom shall be broken in pieces and shall be divided to the four winds of the heavens, and not to his posterity, nor according to his authority with which he ruled. For his kingdom shall be plucked up and given to others besides these.

5 And the king of the south shall be strong. And one of his rulers, even he will gain strength over him, and he will rule. His dominion shall be a great dominion.

6 And at the end of years they shall join together, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the power of the arm. And he will not stand, nor his arm. But she and those who brought her shall be given up, as well as the one who begot her and who supported her in these times.

7 But out of the shoots of her roots one will stand in his place, and he shall come with an army and will enter into the fortress of the king of the north. And he will act against them and prevail.

8 And he will also bring their gods with their cast images, along with their possessions of silver and gold vessels, into captivity to Egypt. And he will continue more years than the king of the north.

9 And the king of the south will come into his kingdom and will return to his own land.

10 But his sons shall be stirred up and shall gather a multitude of great forces. And one certainly shall come and overflow and pass through. And he will return to his fortress and be stirred up.

11 And the king of the south will be bitter and will go out and fight with him, with the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand.

12 And when he has carried away the multitude, his heart will be lifted up. And he will cause a vast innumerable number to fall, but he will not prevail.

13 For the king of the north shall return and raise a greater multitude than the former. And at the end of some years, he shall come to attack with a great army and with much equipment.

14 And in those times many shall stand up against the king of the south. And the sons of the violent ones of your people shall rise up to fulfill the vision, but they shall stumble.

15 So the king of the north shall come and build up a siege mound and seize a fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, nor his choice people, for there will be no strength to resist.

16 But he who comes against him will do as he desires, and no one shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, with destruction in his hand.

17 And he shall set his face to go in with the might of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do. And he shall give the daughter of women to him, to destroy it. But she shall not stand, nor be for him.

18 After this he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many. But a ruler shall make his reproach cease for him, but his reproach shall return to him.

19 And he shall turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and not be found.

20 Then one who imposes taxes shall stand in his place, in the glorious kingdom. But within a few days he will be broken in pieces, but not in anger nor in battle.

21 And a vile person shall stand up in his place, and they shall not give to him the honor as king. But he shall come in with quietness and obtain the kingdom by intrigues.

22 And with the forces of the overflow they shall be swept from before him, and be broken, and also the ruler of the covenant.

23 And after they join themselves to him, he will practice deceit; for he shall come and shall be strong with a few people.

24 He will go in peaceably, even into the rich places of the province. And he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers. He shall plunder and spoil and scatter goods among them. And he shall devise his plots against the strongholds, even for a time.

25 And he will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south will be stirred up to battle with a great and very mighty army. But he shall not stand, for they will devise plots against him.

26 Yea, those who eat his food shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow. And many will fall down slain.

27 And both of these kings shall have it in their hearts to do evil, and they will speak lies at one table. But it will not prosper, for the end shall still be at the appointed time.

28 And he will return to his land with great wealth. And his heart shall be against the holy covenant. And he will act, and he shall return to his own land.

29 At the appointed time he will return and come against the south. But it will not be as the former or as the latter.

30 For ships from Kittim will come against him. And he will be grieved and return and be furious against the holy covenant. And he will act, and he will return and give heed to those who forsake the holy covenant.

31 And forces will stand for him, and they will profane the sanctuary fortress. And they shall remove the regular sacrifice, and they will place there the abomination that causes horror.

32 And he will corrupt with flatteries those who act wickedly against the covenant. But the people who know their God will be strong and will work.

33 And those who understand among the people will instruct many. Yet they will stumble by the sword and by flame, by captivity and spoils for many days.

34 And when they shall stumble, they will be helped with a little help. But many will join them with hypocrisy.

35 And some of those who understand shall stumble, to refine and to purge them, and to make them white, unto the time of the end; for it is yet for the appointed time.

36 And the king shall do according to his own will. And he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god; he shall even speak extraordinary things against the Mighty God of gods and shall prosper until the indignation is complete. For that which is decreed shall be done.

37 He shall not regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women; nor regard any god. For he shall magnify himself above them all.

38 But in his place he shall honor the god of fortresses, and he shall honor a god whom his fathers did not know, with gold and silver and with precious stones, and desirable things.

39 And he shall act in the strongholds of the fortresses with a foreign god, whom he shall acknowledge. He shall multiply in glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many and shall divide the land for gain.

40 And at the time of the end, the king of the south will push against him. And the king of the north shall come against him like a tempest, with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships. And he shall go into the lands and shall overflow and pass through.

41 And he shall enter into the glorious land, and many will stumble. But these shall escape out of his hand: Edom and Moab, and the chief of the sons of Ammon.

42 He will stretch out his hand against the lands, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

43 But he will rule over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the desirable things of Egypt. And the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

44 But news from the east and from the north shall trouble him. And he will go out with great fury to utterly destroy and annihilate many.

45 And he shall plant his palace tents between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.