1Also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I myself stood up to support him and to strengthen him.
2Now I will show you the truth. Look, three more kings will rise in Persia, and the fourth will be far richer than all of them. By his strength, through his riches, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.
3Then a mighty king will rise. He will rule with great power and do whatever he pleases.
4When he has risen, his kingdom will be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, and it will not be as great as when he ruled. For his kingdom will be pulled up and given to others besides them.
5The king of the south will be strong, and one of his princes too. That prince will be stronger than he is and will rule, and his rule will be a great rule.
6After some years they will join themselves together. The daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she will not keep the strength of her arm, and he will not last, nor his arm. She will be given up, and so will those who brought her, and the one who was her father, and the one who strengthened her in those times.
7But out of a branch of her roots one will rise up in his place. He will come with an army, enter the fortress of the king of the north, fight against them, and win.
8He will also carry off to Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and gold. He will last more years than the king of the north.
9So the king of the south will come into his kingdom, and will return to his own land.
10But his sons will be stirred up, and will gather a great crowd of forces. One will surely come and sweep through like a flood and pass on. Then he will return, and be stirred up again, even as far as his fortress.
11The king of the south will be filled with anger. He will come out and fight with him, with the king of the north. The king of the north will put out a great army, but that army will be given into his hand.
12When he has taken away that army, his heart will be lifted up. He will strike down many tens of thousands, but he will not be made strong by it.
13For the king of the north will return and put out an army greater than the first. After some years he will surely come with a great army and with much wealth.
14In those times many will rise up against the king of the south. Also the robbers among your people will lift themselves up to fulfil the vision, but they will fall.
15So the king of the north will come and pile up a siege mound and take the strongest walled cities. The forces of the south will not hold out, nor will his chosen troops, and there will be no strength to hold out.
16But the one who comes against him will do whatever he pleases, and no one will stand before him. He will stand in the glorious land, and by his hand it will be destroyed.
17He will set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him. This is what he will do. He will give him a daughter of women, to ruin her. But she will not stand on his side, nor be for him.
18After this he will turn his face to the islands and take many of them. But a prince will put an end to the shame he brought, and will turn that shame back on him, without any shame of his own.
19Then he will turn his face toward the fortress of his own land. But he will stumble and fall, and will not be found.
20Then in his place one will rise who raises taxes in the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he will be destroyed, though not in anger or in battle.
21In his place a vile person will rise, one to whom they will not give the honour of the kingdom. He will come in peacefully, and take the kingdom by flattery.
22The forces of a flood will be swept away before him and broken, and so will the prince of the covenant.
23After an agreement is made with him he will act deceitfully. He will come up and grow strong with only a few people.
24He will come in peacefully into the richest parts of the province. He will do what his fathers never did, nor his fathers' fathers. He will scatter among them plunder, spoil and riches. He will make plans against the strongholds, but only for a time.
25He will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army. The king of the south will be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army, but he will not stand, for plans will be made against him.
26Those who eat their share of his food will destroy him. His army will be swept away, and many will fall down slain.
27The hearts of both these kings will be set on doing harm. They will speak lies at one table, but it will not succeed, for the end will still come at the appointed time.
28Then he will return to his land with great riches. His heart will be against the holy covenant. He will do great deeds, and return to his own land.
29At the appointed time he will return and come toward the south, but this time will not be like the first or like the last.
30For the ships of Chittim will come against him. He will be grieved, and turn back, and will rage against the holy covenant. So he will act. He will turn back and come to an understanding with those who forsake the holy covenant.
31Forces from him will rise up. They will defile the sanctuary, the stronghold, and take away the daily sacrifice, and they will set up the abomination that makes desolate.
32Those who act wickedly against the covenant he will corrupt by flattery. But the people who know their God will be strong and will do great deeds.
33Those among the people who understand will teach many. Yet for many days they will fall by the sword, by flame, by captivity and by plunder.
34Now when they fall, they will be helped with a little help, but many will join themselves to them with flattery.
35Some of those who understand will fall, so that they may be tested, and purged, and made white, until the time of the end. For it is still for the appointed time.
36The king will do whatever he pleases. He will lift himself up and make himself greater than every god, and he will say astonishing things against the God of gods. He will succeed until the wrath is finished, for what is decided will be done.
37He will not respect the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor any god at all. He will make himself greater than all.
38But in his place he will honour the God of forces. A god his fathers did not know he will honour with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly things.
39This is what he will do in the strongest fortresses, with a strange god, whom he will acknowledge and increase with glory. He will make them rule over many, and will divide the land for gain.
40At the time of the end the king of the south will push at him. The king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships. He will enter the countries, sweep through like a flood, and pass over.
41He will also enter the glorious land, and many countries will be overthrown. But these will escape out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the chief part of the children of Ammon.
42He will stretch out his hand over the countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape.
43He will have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. The Libyans and the Ethiopians will follow at his steps.
44But news out of the east and out of the north will trouble him. So he will go out with great fury to destroy, and to wipe out many completely.
45He will pitch the tents of his palace between the seas, at the glorious holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.