1 “And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, my standing is for a strengthener, and for a stronghold to him; 2 and now, I declare to you truth: Behold, yet three kings are standing for Persia, and the fourth becomes far richer than all, and according to his strength by his riches he stirs up the whole, with the kingdom of Javan. 3 And a mighty king has stood, and he has ruled a great dominion, and has done according to his will; 4 and according to his standing is his kingdom broken, and divided to the four winds of the heavens, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion that he ruled, for his kingdom is plucked up—and for others apart from these. 5 And a king of the south—even of his princes—becomes strong, and prevails against him, and has ruled; a great dominion is his dominion. 6 And at the end of years they join themselves together, and a daughter of the king of the south comes to the king of the north to do upright things; and she does not retain the power of the arm; and he does not stand, nor his arm; and she is given up, she, and those bringing her in, and her child, and he who is strengthening her in these times. 7 And one has stood up from a branch of her roots, in his station, and he comes to the bulwark, indeed, he comes into a stronghold of the king of the north, and has worked against them, and has done mightily; 8 and also their gods, with their princes, with their desirable vessels of silver and gold, he brings in captivity to Egypt; and he stands more years than the king of the north. 9 And the king of the south has come into the kingdom, and turned back to his own land; 10 and his sons stir themselves up, and have gathered a multitude of great forces, and he has certainly come in, and overflowed, and passed through, and he turns back, and they stir themselves up to his stronghold. 11 And the king of the south becomes embittered, and has gone out and fought with him, with the king of the north, and has caused a great multitude to stand, and the multitude has been given into his hand, 12 and he has carried away the multitude, his heart is high, and he has caused myriads to fall, and he does not become strong. 13 And the king of the north has turned back, and has caused a multitude to stand, greater than the first, and at the end of the times a second time he certainly comes in with a great force, and with much substance; 14 and in those times many stand up against the king of the south, and sons of the destroyers of your people lift themselves up to establish the vision—and they have stumbled. 15 And the king of the north comes in, and pours out a mound, and has captured fortified cities; and the arms of the south do not stand, nor the people of his choice, indeed, there is no power to stand. 16 And he who is coming to him does according to his will, and there is none standing before him; and he stands in the desirable land, and it is wholly in his hand. 17 And he sets his face to go in with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; and he has worked, and the daughter of women he gives to him, to corrupt her; and she does not stand, nor is for him. 18 And he turns back his face to the islands, and has captured many; and a prince has caused his reproach of himself to cease; without his reproach he turns it back to him. 19 And he turns back his face to the strongholds of his land, and has stumbled and fallen, and is not found. 20 And stood up on his station has one causing an exactor to pass over the honor of the kingdom, and in a few days he is destroyed, and not in anger, nor in battle. 21 And a despicable one has stood up on his station, and they have not given to him the splendor of the kingdom, and he has come in quietly, and has strengthened the kingdom by flatteries. 22 And the arms of the flood are overflowed from before him, and are broken; and also the leader of the covenant. 23 And after they join themselves to him, he works deceit, and has increased, and has been strong by a few of the nation. 24 Peaceably even into the fertile places of the province He comes, and he has done that which his fathers did not, nor his fathers’ fathers; prey, and spoil, and substance, he scatters to them, and against fortifications he devises his plans, even for a time. 25 And he stirs up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great force, and the king of the south stirs himself up to battle with a very great and mighty force, and does not stand, for they devise plans against him, 26 and those eating his portion of food destroy him, and his force overflows, and many wounded have fallen. 27 And both of the kings’ hearts are to do evil, and at one table they speak lies, and it does not prosper, for yet the end is at a time appointed. 28 And he turns back to his land with great substance, and his heart is against the holy covenant, and he has worked, and turned back to his land. 29 At the appointed time he turns back, and has come against the south, and it is not as the former, and as the latter. 30 And ships of Chittim have come in against him, and he has been pained, and has turned back, and has been insolent toward the holy covenant, and has worked, and turned back, and he understands concerning those forsaking the holy covenant. 31 And strong ones stand up out of him, and have defiled the sanctuary, the stronghold, and have turned aside the continual sacrifice, and appointed the desolating abomination. 32 And those acting wickedly against the covenant, he defiles by flatteries; and the people knowing their God are strong, and have worked. 33 And the teachers of the people give understanding to many; and they have stumbled by sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil—days. 34 And in their stumbling, they are helped—a little help, and joined to them have been many with flatteries. 35 And some of the teachers stumble for refining by them, and for purifying, and for making white—until the end of the time, for it is yet for a time appointed. 36 And the king has done according to his will, and exalts himself, and magnifies himself against every god, and he speaks wonderful things against the God of gods, and has prospered until the indignation has been completed, for that which is determined has been done. 37 And to the God of his fathers he does not attend, nor to the desire of women, indeed, he does not attend to any god, for he magnifies himself against all. 38 And to the god of strongholds, on his station, he gives honor; indeed, to a god whom his fathers did not know he gives honor, with gold, and with silver, and with precious stone, and with desirable things. 39 And he has dealt in the fortresses of the strongholds with a strange god whom he has acknowledged; he multiplies honor, and has caused them to rule over many, and the ground he apportions at a price. 40 And at the time of the end, a king of the south pushes himself forward with him, and a king of the north storms against him, with chariot, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he has come into the lands, and has overflowed, and passed over, 41 and has come into the desirable land, and many stumble, and these escape from his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the sons of Ammon. 42 And he sends out his hand on the lands, and the land of Egypt is not for an escape; 43 and he has ruled over treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the desirable things of Egypt, and Lubim and Cushim are at his steps. 44 And reports trouble him out of the east and out of the north, and he has gone out in great fury to destroy, and to devote many to destruction; 45 and he plants the tents of his palace between the seas and the holy desirable mountain, and has come to his end, and there is no helper to him.”