1. "In the first year of Darius the
Mede, I rose to strengthen you and empower you.
2. "Because it is with certainty that I show you
[these things.] Three more* kings shall rise in Persia, but a fourth one
shall achieve great wealth, more than all of them, and when he is
well-established in his country, he shall oversee all the kingdoms of the
Greeks.
3. "And there shall rise a giant of a king, who
will possess great authority,* and he shall do as he pleases.
4. "And as he rises, his kingdom shall be broken
and scattered to the four spirits of heaven, and this shall be neither
according to his intentions,* nor according to the authority that he
exerted,* except his kingdom shall be barren and there will come no one
after them.
5. "The King of the South shall come to power, together with his generals;* he shall capture him and bring
authority to bear [over him.]
6. "And at the end* of the years, they would resolve* their
differences, so the daughter of the King of the South shall go to the King
of the North to foment the peace between them; but she will not have the
strength, from fear,* and she will surrender herself, together with those
that brought her, her maidens and servants,* in that season.
7. "And there shall rise one from the root of her
seed over his land, and he shall come with strength and mastery against
the King of the North; he shall pass through them and seize them,
8. "Together* with their subjects, personal
belongings, assets, money, gold and furnishing, [and he shall carry them]
down to Egypt, and he shall raise twice the force* against the King of the
North.
9. "And he shall rejoin* the King of the South and
return to his land.
10. "And his sons will turn against him, they will gather
great forces and enter upon him, sweeping and overrunning; they will
return
and utterly alienate him.
11. "And the King of the South shall grumble; he
shall go out and take the battle to the King of the North. He shall raise
a great force. And that power shall be placed* into his hand.
12. "And they shall [send] the power to oblivion
and his heart shall grow haughty;* he shall overthrow many but he shall
not hold on [to anything.]
13. "Then the King of the North shall return and he
shall raise a greater force than before, and at the end of the season* he
shall be coming with twice as much power, consisting of an elite and
overwhelming force.*
14. "And in that season, many shall rise against
the King of the North,* and the abominable* of your people shall alight in
order to uphold the vision, but they shall blunder.
15. "Then the King of the North shall come and he
shall lay a siege* and capture the fortified swordsmen, and the army of
the South shall not rise because there will be no strength left in them to
rise, and the chosen of the people shall rise but they will not prevail.
16. "And the one who would come against him will do as he pleases; there
will be no one that could stand before him, to rise in the
land of Israel, which will be delivered into his hands.
17. "And he will set his sight on entering,* with the
strength* of his entire kingdoms; his entire nation will perish,* together
with the Daughter of Man, who will be given to him for his ruin,* who will
neither stand by him, nor [truly] became his.
18. "And he shall turn his face* against the
islands of the sea and capture many. He shall undo the authority that
plundered* him, and his booty* shall be returned to him.
19. "And he shall set his sights on the difficult
terrain, but he shall slip and fall and he shall not prevail.*
20. "And he shall rise against his own best interest;*
his authority will be breached* and his envoys will be dispatched;* however, he
will be broken in a few days, but it will be neither with anger, nor with
bickering.
21. "And he shall rise over his country through intrigue,
and he shall not be given the recognition of the kingdoms; he will come at a time of
peace and he will take over the kingdom through the constitutional laws.
22. "And the assault of their chariots shall be
blunted;* and even the carriers* of the Ark of the Covenant shall be
broken before him.
23. "And some of the ones who associated themselves
with him will betray* him.
24. "He shall go up and seize a small nation, together with the wealthy men of the towns, and he will do what
even his parents never
did, nor his parents' parents;* he will carry off* the booty, their
furnishings, cattle, and he will treat their wagons as his own.*
25. "And until the season [has arrived,] he
shall focus his power and his heart against the King of the South, with a
great force and strength. And the King of the South shall draw toward war
with a great force; he shall be strengthened greatly but he shall not
prevail,* because there will be great doubts expressed against him.*
26. "And those who partake of food with him shall
break him,* his forces will be scattered, and many shall fall to the
sword.*
27. "And both these kings, their hearts are set on
evil, and over the same table they speak of treachery, but they do not
come to terms, because the apocalyptical [figure] arrives in his season.
28. "And he shall return to the earth with a great
force, and his heart is set on a holy uprising.
29. "And he shall do as in the beginning, and also
as in the end.
30. "And there will come against him the camps of
Cathay and they shall break him. Then he shall return and become angry
against the holy uprising, and he shall be exposed* among those who
abandoned the holy uprising.
31. "And their captors shall rise from themselves,
and they shall defile the holy of holies,* and they shall forgo the
offerings,* and they shall carry defilement to the [point of] ruin.
32. "And he shall hold responsible those that
committed* the uprising.
33. "And the people that know fear shall be
captured, but the holy ones of the nation shall teach many, and they shall
be carried away by sword and by fire; they shall be held captive and they
shall be plundered for a Thousand Days.
34. "And when they make the sweep, they shall
provide some assistance, and many shall add to that their half share.
35. "And of the wise men that will be swept up to
be paraded* -- until the apocalypse will have arrived -- because there
will still be time* before the season arrives.
36. "And the king shall do according to his wishes,
and he shall raise himself against every god, and even against the God of
gods he shall speak grandiosely, and he shall be held together until the
wrath has ended,* because there will be slayings* conducted.
37. "But he shall not recognize the God of his
fathers; he shall ignore the attention of women, and he shall pay no heed
to any god, except he shall raise* himself above all.
38. "And to the Almighty God he honors when it is
to his gain,* and and to the god that his ancestors did not honor, he will
honor with gold, money,* pearls,* and jewelry.*
39. "And he shall pass through the rituals* to
foreign gods, in order to see and rule over many, and he shall divide the
land with interest.*
40. "And at the apocalypse, the King of the South shall fight with
him, and the King of the North shall lay him to waste,* with twin-horse
chariots, foot soldiers and many sail ships, and he shall enter the land.
41. "And he shall reach the land of Israel; many shall be killed,
and those that are delivered from his hands -- Edom, Moab and some of
Ammon.
42. "And he shall stretch his hand upon the countries, and the
land of Egypt will not flit from his hands.
43. "And he shall rule by the treasures of gold and silver, and
every product of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall assist
him.
44. "However, words from the East and the North shall betray* him,
and he shall go out with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many.
45. "And he shall spike his tent in a spacious land,* between the
sea and the mountain, but his blessings shall depart from him,* and there
will arrive his time of reckoning,* and there will be none to help him.
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