Daniel 10; Daniel 11; Daniel 12

1 In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, a message was made plain to Daniel, whose Babylonian name was Belteshazzar. The message was true. It dealt with a big war. He understood the message, the understanding coming by revelation:

2 "During those days, I, Daniel, went into mourning over Jerusalem for three weeks.

3 I ate only plain and simple food, no seasoning or meat or wine. I neither bathed nor shaved until the three weeks were up.

4 "On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris.

5 I looked up and to my surprise saw a man dressed in linen with a belt of pure gold around his waist.

6 His body was hard and glistening, as if sculpted from a precious stone, his face radiant, his eyes bright and penetrating like torches, his arms and feet glistening like polished bronze, and his voice, deep and resonant, sounded like a huge choir of voices.

7 "I, Daniel, was the only one to see this. The men who were with me, although they didn't see it, were overcome with fear and ran off and hid, fearing the worst.

8 Left alone after the appearance, abandoned by my friends, I went weak in the knees, the blood drained from my face.

9 "I heard his voice. At the sound of it I fainted, fell flat on the ground, face in the dirt.

10 A hand touched me and pulled me to my hands and knees.

11 "'Daniel,' he said, 'man of quality, listen carefully to my message. And get up on your feet. Stand at attention. I've been sent to bring you news.' "When he had said this, I stood up, but I was still shaking.

12 "'Relax, Daniel,' he continued, 'don't be afraid. From the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard, and I set out to come to you.

13 But I was waylaid by the angel-prince of the kingdom of Persia

14 and was delayed for a good three weeks. But then Michael, one of the chief angel-princes, intervened to help me. I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. And now I'm here to help you understand what will eventually happen to your people. The vision has to do with what's ahead.'

15 "While he was saying all this, I looked at the ground and said nothing.

16 Then I was surprised by something like a human hand that touched my lips. I opened my mouth and started talking to the messenger: 'When I saw you, master, I was terror-stricken. My knees turned to water. I couldn't move.

17 How can I, a lowly servant, speak to you, my master? I'm paralyzed. I can hardly breathe!'

18 "Then this humanlike figure touched me again and gave me strength.

19 He said, 'Don't be afraid, friend. Peace. Everything is going to be all right. Take courage. Be strong.' "Even as he spoke, courage surged up within me. I said, 'Go ahead, let my master speak. You've given me courage.'

20 "He said, 'Do you know why I've come here to you? I now have to go back to fight against the angel-prince of Persia, and when I get him out of the way, the angel-prince of Greece will arrive.

21 But first let me tell you what's written in The True Book. No one helps me in my fight against these beings except Michael, your angel-prince.

1 "'And I, in my turn, have been helping him out as best I can ever since the first year in the reign of Darius the Mede.' The Kings of the South and the North

2 "'But now let me tell you the truth of how things stand: Three more kings of Persia will show up, and then a fourth will become richer than all of them. When he senses that he is powerful enough as a result of his wealth, he will go to war against the entire kingdom of Greece.

3 "'Then a powerful king will show up and take over a huge territory and run things just as he pleases.

4 But at the height of his power, with everything seemingly under control, his kingdom will split into four parts, like the four points of the compass. But his heirs won't get in on it. There will be no continuity with his kingship. Others will tear it to pieces and grab whatever they can get for themselves.

5 "'Next the king of the south will grow strong, but one of his princes will grow stronger than he and rule an even larger territory.

6 After a few years, the two of them will make a pact, and the daughter of the king of the south will marry the king of the north to cement the peace agreement. But her influence will weaken and her child will not survive. She and her servants, her child, and her husband will be betrayed.

7 a member of the royal family will show up and take over. He will take command of his army and invade the defenses of the king of the north and win a resounding victory.

8 He will load up their tin gods and all the gold and silver trinkets that go with them and cart them off to Egypt. Eventually, the king of the north will recover

9 and invade the country of the king of the south, but unsuccessfully. He will have to retreat.

10 "'But then his sons will raise a huge army and rush down like a flood, a torrential attack, on the defenses of the south.

11 "'Furious, the king of the south will come out and engage the king of the north and his huge army in battle and rout them.

12 As the corpses are cleared from the field, the king, inflamed with bloodlust, will go on a bloodletting rampage, massacring tens of thousands. But his victory won't last long,

13 for the king of the north will put together another army bigger than the last one, and after a few years he'll come back to do battle again with his immense army and endless supplies.

14 "'In those times, many others will get into the act and go off to fight against the king of the south. Hotheads from your own people, drunk on dreams, will join them. But they'll sputter out.

15 "'When the king of the north arrives, he'll build siege works and capture the outpost fortress city. The armies of the south will fall to pieces before him. Not even their famous commando shock troops will slow down the attacker.

16 He'll march in big as you please, as if he owned the place. He'll take over that beautiful country, Palestine, and make himself at home in it.

17 Then he'll proceed to get everything, lock, stock, and barrel, in his control. He'll cook up a peace treaty and even give his daughter in marriage to the king of the south in a plot to destroy him totally. But the plot will fizzle. It won't succeed.

18 "'Later, he'll turn his attention to the coastal regions and capture a bunch of prisoners, but a general will step in and put a stop to his bullying ways. The bully will be bullied!

19 He'll go back home and tend to his own military affairs. But by then he'll be washed up and soon will be heard of no more.

20 "'He will be replaced shortly by a real loser, his rule, reputation, and authority already in shreds. And he won't last long. He'll slip out of history quietly, without even a fight.

21 "'His place will be taken by a reject, a man spurned and passed over for advancement. He'll surprise everyone, seemingly coming out of nowhere, and will seize the kingdom.

22 He'll come in like a steamroller, flattening the opposition. Even the Prince of the Covenant will be crushed.

23 After negotiating a cease-fire, he'll betray its terms. With a few henchmen, he'll take total control.

24 Arbitrarily and impulsively, he'll invade the richest provinces. He'll surpass all his ancestors, near and distant, in his rape of the country, grabbing and looting, living with his cronies in corrupt and lavish luxury.

25 He'll get a great army together, all charged up to fight the king of the south. The king of the south in response will get his army - an even greater army - in place, ready to fight. But he won't be able to sustain that intensity for long because of the treacherous intrigue

26 in his own ranks, his court having been honeycombed with vicious plots. His army will be smashed, the battlefield filled with corpses.

27 "'The two kings, each with evil designs on the other, will sit at the conference table and trade lies. Nothing will come of the treaty, which is nothing but a tissue of lies anyway. But that's not the end of it. There's more to this story.

28 "'The king of the north will go home loaded down with plunder, but his mind will be set on destroying the holy covenant as he passes through the country on his way home.

29 "'One year later he will mount a fresh invasion of the south. But the second invasion won't compare to the first.

30 When the Roman ships arrive, he will turn tail and go back home. But as he passes through the country, he will be filled with anger at the holy covenant. He will take up with all those who betray the holy covenant, favoring them.

31 The bodyguards surrounding him will march in and desecrate the Sanctuary and citadel. They'll throw out the daily worship and set up in its place the obscene sacrilege.

32 The king of the north will play up to those who betray the holy covenant, corrupting them even further with his seductive talk, but those who stay courageously loyal to their God will take a strong stand.

33 "'Those who keep their heads on straight will teach the crowds right from wrong by their example. They'll be put to severe testing for a season: some killed, some burned, some exiled, some robbed.

34 When the testing is intense, they'll get some help, but not much. Many of the helpers will be halfhearted at best.

35 The testing will refine, cleanse, and purify those who keep their heads on straight and stay true, for there is still more to come.

36 "'Meanwhile, the king of the north will do whatever he pleases. He'll puff himself up and posture himself as greater than any god. He will even dare to brag and boast in defiance of the God of gods. And he'll get by with it for a while - until this time of wrathful judgment is completed, for what is decreed must be done.

37 He will have no respect for the gods of his ancestors, not even that popular favorite among women, Adonis. Contemptuous of every god and goddess, the king of the north will puff himself up greater than all of them.

38 He'll even stoop to despising the God of the holy ones, and in the place where God is worshiped he will put on exhibit, with a lavish show of silver and gold and jewels, a new god that no one has ever heard of.

39 Marching under the banner of a strange god, he will attack the key fortresses. He will promote everyone who falls into line behind this god, putting them in positions of power and paying them off with grants of land.

40 "'In the final wrap-up of this story, the king of the south will confront him. But the king of the north will come at him like a tornado. Unleashing chariots and horses and an armada of ships, he'll blow away anything in his path.

41 As he enters the beautiful land, people will fall before him like dominoes. Only Edom, Moab, and a few Ammonites will escape.

42 As he reaches out, grabbing country after country, not even Egypt will be exempt.

43 He will confiscate the treasuries of Egyptian gold and silver and other valuables. The Libyans and Ethiopians will fall in with him.

44 Then disturbing reports will come in from the north and east that will throw him into a panic. Towering in rage, he'll rush to stamp out the threat.

45 But he'll no sooner have pitched camp between the Mediterranean Sea and the Holy Mountain - all those royal tents! - than he'll meet his end. And not a soul around who can help!

1 "'That's when Michael, the great angel-prince, champion of your people, will step in. It will be a time of trouble, the worst trouble the world has ever seen. But your people will be saved from the trouble, every last one found written in the Book.

2 Many who have been long dead and buried will wake up, some to eternal life, others to eternal shame.

3 "'Men and women who have lived wisely and well will shine brilliantly, like the cloudless, star-strewn night skies. And those who put others on the right path to life will glow like stars forever.

4 "'This is a confidential report, Daniel, for your eyes and ears only. Keep it secret. Put the book under lock and key until the end. In the interim there is going to be a lot of frantic running around, trying to figure out what's going on.'

5 "As I, Daniel, took all this in, two figures appeared, one standing on this bank of the river and one on the other bank.

6 One of them asked a third man who was dressed in linen and who straddled the river, 'How long is this astonishing story to go on?'

7 "The man dressed in linen, who straddled the river, raised both hands to the skies. I heard him solemnly swear by the Eternal One that it would be a time, two times, and half a time, that when the oppressor of the holy people was brought down the story would be complete.

8 "I heard all this plainly enough, but I didn't understand it. So I asked, 'Master, can you explain this to me?'

9 "'Go on about your business, Daniel,' he said. 'The message is confidential and under lock and key until the end, until things are about to be wrapped up.

10 The populace will be washed clean and made like new. But the wicked will just keep on being wicked, without a clue about what is happening. Those who live wisely and well will understand what's going on.'

11 "From the time that the daily worship is banished from the Temple and the obscene desecration is set up in its place, there will be 1,290 days.

12 "Blessed are those who patiently make it through the 1,335 days.

13 "And you? Go about your business without fretting or worrying. Relax. When it's all over, you will be on your feet to receive your reward."