¹ And I also, in the first year of Darius the Mede, stood up to confirm and strengthen him.

² And now I will tell thee what is true. Behold, there shall arise yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than they all; and, relying upon his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece.

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

⁴ But when he shall have arisen, his kingdom shall be broken in pieces, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor with the dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, and divided amongst others besides those.

⁵ And the king of the South shall become strong; but one of his princes shall become stronger than he, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.

⁶ And after some years they shall ally themselves with each other; and the daughter of the king of the South shall come to the king of the North, to make peace; but she shall not retain the power of giving aid; neither shall he stand, nor his aid; but she shall be given up, and they that caused her to go, and he that begat her, and he that received her in those times.

⁷ But from a shoot of her roots shall one arise in his place, who shall come to an army, and shall come against the fortresses of the king of the North, and shall deal with them according to his pleasure, and prevail against them.

⁸ And their gods, with their molten images, and their precious vessels of silver and of gold, shall he carry into captivity into Egypt; then shall he stand away for many years from the king of the North;

⁹ and he shall come against the kingdom of the king of the South, but he shall return into his own land.

¹⁰ But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of large forces; and one of them shall move onward, and overflow, and pass through, and shall again stir himself up to carry on the war even to his stronghold.

¹¹ Then shall the king of the South be enraged, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the North; and shall lead forth a great multitude, and the multitude shall be given into his hand.

¹² And the multitude shall be elated, and his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down tens of thousands; but he shall not be strong.

¹³ For the king of the North shall return and raise up against him a multitude greater than the former, and shall steadily come after certain years with a great army and with great riches.

¹⁴ And in those times many will stand up against the king of the South; and violent men of thy people shall exalt themselves, so as to establish the vision, and shall fall.

¹⁵ And the king of the North shall come, and cast up a mound, and take a fortified city; and the arms of the South shall not withstand, neither his chosen men, neither shall there be any strength to withstand.

¹⁶ And he that cometh against him shall do according to his will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the beautiful land, and destruction shall be in his hand.

¹⁷ And he shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and shall make pacification with him; and he shall give him his daughter in marriage, to ruin his dominion. But it shall not succeed, neither shall it be for him.

¹⁸ After this he shall turn his face to the isles, and shall take many; but a commander shall put an end to his scorn; nay, shall cause his scorn to return upon himself.

¹⁹ Then shall he turn his face to the strongholds of his own land; and he shall stumble, and fall, and shall not be found.

²⁰ Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exacter of tribute through the glory of his kingdom; but within few days shall he be destroyed, neither by anger nor by battle.

²¹ And in his place shall arise a despised person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom; but in the midst of peace he shall come in and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

²² And the forces of a flood shall be overwhelmed before him, and shall be broken in pieces; and even the prince that is allied with him.

²³ For after making a league with him, he will practise deceit; for he will come up, and prevail with a small people.

²⁴ In the midst of security shall he come into the fattest provinces of the land, and he shall do what his fathers never did, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall scatter among them prey, and spoil, and riches; and he shall form his devices against the strongholds, even to a set time.

²⁵ And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the South, with a great army; and the king of the South shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand, for they shall form devices against him.

²⁶ Even they that eat of his own food shall destroy him; and his army shall overflow, and many shall fall down slain.

²⁷ And the hearts of both these kings shall be to do mischief; and at one table shall they speak lies; but it shall not prosper; for yet the end is for the appointed time.

²⁸ Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and he will set his heart against the holy covenant, and he will execute his purposes, and return to his own land.

²⁹ At the appointed time he shall again go against the South; but the second time it shall not be as at the first.

³⁰ For the Chittaean ships shall come against him, and he shall be discouraged, and return, and be enraged against the holy covenant, and execute his purposes; and he shall again have an understanding with them that forsake the holy covenant.

³¹ And forces shall be raised by him, which shall pollute the sanctuary, the stronghold, and take away the daily sacrifice, and set up the abomination of the destroyer.

³² And such as do wickedly against the covenant will he lead to apostasy by flatteries; but the people that know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

³³ And they that have understanding among the people shall instruct many; but they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.

³⁴ And whilst they fall they shall receive a little help, and many shall join themselves to them with flatteries.

³⁵ And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purify, and cleanse, even to the time of the end, for it is yet at the time appointed.

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

³⁷ Neither will he regard the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women; nor will he regard any god, but he will magnify himself against all.

³⁸ But in their place will he honor the god of strongholds, even the god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and with silver, and with precious stones, and with jewels.

³⁹ And he shall do his will against fenced strongholds with a strange god; whoever acknowledge him, to them he will give great honor, and give them dominion over many, and divide the land amongst them for a reward.

⁴⁰ But at the time of the end shall the king of the South push at him, and the king of the North shall rush against him like a whirlwind with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and overflow them, and pass over them.

⁴¹ He shall also enter into the beautiful land, and multitudes shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the sons of Ammon.

⁴² He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

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

⁴⁴ But tidings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him, and he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to take away many.

⁴⁵ And he shall pitch his palace-tents between the sea and the beautiful holy mountain; but he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.