The Lantern

Daniel11

Kings of the South and North

And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede — my standing was to strengthen and to be a stronghold for him.

And now I will tell you truth. See, three more kings will stand for Persia, and the fourth will be far richer than all of them; and by his strength through his riches he will stir up everything against the kingdom of Javan.

And a mighty king will stand and rule a great dominion, and do according to his will.

And when he has stood, his kingdom will be broken and divided toward the four winds of the heavens — and not to his posterity, and not according to the dominion that he ruled; for his kingdom will be flung away, and to others besides these.

And the king of the South will be strong, and one of his princes; and he will be strong over him and rule a dominion — his dominion a great dominion.

And at the end of years they will join together, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to make uprightness. But she will not retain the strength of the arm, and he will not stand, nor his arm; and she will be given up, and those who brought her, and the one who fathered her, and the one who strengthened her in those times.

And from a shoot of her roots one will stand in his place; and he will come to the army and come into the stronghold of the king of the North, and he will act against them and prevail.

And also their gods with their molten images, with their vessels of desire, silver and gold, he will bring in captivity to Egypt. And he will stand for years away from the king of the North.

And he will come into the kingdom of the king of the South, and return to his own land.

And his sons will stir up strife and gather a multitude of great forces; and one will surely come and flood over and pass through, and return and stir up strife as far as his stronghold.

And the king of the South will be embittered and go out and fight with him, with the king of the North; and he will raise a great multitude, and the multitude will be given into his hand.

And when the multitude is carried off, his heart will be lifted up; and he will cast down ten thousands, but he will not prevail.

And the king of the North will return and raise a multitude greater than the first; and at the end of the times, of years, he will surely come with a great army and with much goods.

And in those times many will stand against the king of the South; and the sons of the violent of your people will lift themselves up to establish a vision — and they will stumble.

And the king of the North will come and pour up a siege ramp and capture a fortified city; and the arms of the South will not stand, nor his chosen people, and there will be no strength to stand.

And the one coming against him will act according to his will, and there will be none standing before him; and he will stand in the land of the Beauty, and destruction will be in his hand.

And he will set his face to come with the strength of all his kingdom, and upright ones with him, and he will act. And the daughter of women he will give him, to destroy her; and she will not stand, and she will not be his.

And he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many; but a commander will make his reproach cease for him — indeed, he will turn his reproach back on him.

And he will turn his face to the strongholds of his own land, and he will stumble and fall and not be found.

And in his place will stand one who makes a taskmaster pass through the majesty of the kingdom; and in a few days he will be broken — not in anger and not in battle.

And in his place will stand a despised one, and they will not give him the splendor of kingship; and he will come in ease and take hold of the kingdom by smooth words.

And the arms of the flood will be flooded away from before him and broken, and also the leader of the covenant.

And from the joining with him he will practice deceit; and he will go up and become strong with a small nation.

In ease he will come into the fat places of the province, and he will do what his fathers and the fathers of his fathers did not do: plunder and spoil and goods he will scatter among them; and against fortified places he will devise his devices — but only for a time.

And he will stir up his power and his heart against the king of the South with a great army; and the king of the South will stir himself to battle with a very great and mighty army — and he will not stand, for they will devise devices against him.

And those who eat the portion of his food will break him; and his army will flood away, and many will fall slain.

And the two kings — their heart is for evil, and at one table they will speak a lie; but it will not prosper, for the end is yet for the appointed time.

And he will return to his land with great goods, and his heart against the holy covenant; and he will act, and return to his land.

At the appointed time he will return and come into the South; but it will not be as the former and as the latter.

And ships of Kittim will come against him, and he will be disheartened. And he will return and be indignant against the holy covenant, and he will act; and he will return and give heed to those forsaking the holy covenant.

And arms from him will stand, and they will profane the sanctuary, the stronghold, and remove the continual, and set up the detestable thing that desolates.

And those who act wickedly against the covenant he will make profane by smooth words; but the people who know their God will be strong and act.

And those of the people who have insight will give understanding to the many; and they will stumble by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder, for days.

And when they stumble they will be helped with a little help; and many will join themselves to them by smooth words.

And some of those who have insight will stumble, to refine among them and to purge and to whiten, until the time of the end — for it is yet for the appointed time.

The King Who Exalts Himself

And the king will act according to his will, and he will exalt himself and make himself great above every god; and against the God of gods he will speak wonders. And he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for what is decreed will be done.

And to the gods of his fathers he will give no heed, nor to the desire of women, nor to any god will he give heed, for above all he will make himself great.

And to a god of strongholds, in his place, he will give honor; and to a god whom his fathers did not know he will give honor with gold and with silver and with precious stone and with desired things.

And he will act against the fortresses of strongholds with a foreign god: whoever acknowledges him he will increase with glory, and he will make them rule over the many, and he will divide the ground for a price.

And at the time of the end the king of the South will butt at him; and the king of the North will storm against him with chariot and with horsemen and with many ships; and he will come into the lands and flood over and pass through.

And he will come into the land of the Beauty, and many will stumble; but these will be rescued from his hand: Edom and Moab and the first of the sons of Ammon.

And he will stretch out his hand against the lands, and the land of Egypt will not be an escape.

And he will rule over the hidden stores of gold and silver and over all the desired things of Egypt; and Libyans and Cushites will be at his steps.

But reports from the east and from the north will terrify him, and he will go out in great wrath to annihilate and to devote many to destruction.

And he will plant the tents of his pavilion between the seas and the mountain of the holy Beauty; and he will come to his end, and there is none helping him.