Daniel 7-12

Daniel 7

¹In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream, and visions came into his head on his bed: then he put the dream in writing.

²I had a vision by night, and saw the four winds of heaven violently moving the great sea.

³And four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from another.

⁴The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings; while I was watching its wings were pulled off, and it was lifted up from the earth and placed on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

⁵And I saw another beast, like a bear, and it was lifted up on one side, and three side-bones were in its mouth, between its teeth: and they said to it, Up! take much flesh.

⁶After this I saw another beast, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings like those of a bird; and the beast had four heads, and the power of a ruler was given to it.

⁷After this, in my vision of the night, I saw a fourth beast, a thing causing fear and very troubling, full of power and very strong; and it had great iron teeth: it took its food, crushing some of it to bits and stamping down the rest with its feet: it was different from all the beasts before it; and it had ten horns.

⁸I was watching the horns with care, and I saw another coming up among them, a little one, before which three of the first horns were pulled up by the roots: and there were eyes like a man's eyes in this horn, and a mouth saying great things.

⁹I went on looking till the seats of kings were placed, and one like a very old man took his seat: his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like clean wool; his seat was flames of fire and its wheels burning fire.

¹⁰A stream of fire was flowing and coming out from before him: a thousand thousands were his servants, and ten thousand times ten thousand were in their places before him: the judge was seated and the books were open.

¹¹Then I saw — because of the voice of the great words which the horn said — I saw till the beast was put to death, and its body was given to destruction, and the beast was given to the burning of fire.

¹²As for the rest of the beasts, their authority was taken away: but they let them go on living for a measure of time.

¹³I saw in visions of the night, and there was coming with the clouds of heaven one like a man, and he came to the one who was very old, and they took him near before him.

¹⁴And to him was given authority and glory and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages were his servants: his authority is an eternal authority which will not come to an end, and his kingdom is one which will not come to destruction.

¹⁵As for me, Daniel, my spirit was pained because of this, and the visions of my head were troubling me.

¹⁶I came near to one of those who were waiting there, questioning him about what all this was. And he said to me that he would make clear to me the sense of these things.

¹⁷These great beasts are four kings who will be cut off from the earth.

¹⁸But the saints of the Most High will take the kingdom, and it will be theirs for ever, even for ever and ever.

¹⁹Then it was my desire to have certain knowledge about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, a cause of great fear, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass; who took his food, crushing some of it to bits and stamping on the rest with his feet;

²⁰And about the ten horns on his head and the other which came up, causing the fall of three; that horn which had eyes, and a mouth saying great things, which seemed to be greater than the other horns.

²¹And I saw how that horn made war on the saints and overcame them,

²²Till he came, who was very old, and the decision was made and the authority was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came when the saints took the kingdom.

²³This is what he said: The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom which will come on earth, different from all the kingdoms, and it will overcome all the earth, crushing it down and smashing it.

²⁴And as for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will come to power; and after them another will come up: he will be different from the first ones and will put down three kings.

²⁵And he will say words against the Most High, attempting to put an end to the saints of the Most High; and he will have the idea of changing times and law; and the saints will be given into his hands for a time and times and half a time.

²⁶But the judge will be seated, and they will put an end to his authority, to overcome it and send complete destruction on it.

²⁷And the kingdom and the authority and the power of the kingdoms under all the heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and all powers will be his servants and do his pleasure.

²⁸Here is the end of the account. As for me, Daniel, I was greatly troubled by my thoughts, and the colour went from my face: but I kept the thing in my heart.

Daniel 8

¹In the third year of the rule of Belshazzar the king, a vision was seen by me, Daniel, after the one I saw at first.

²And I saw in the vision; and when I saw it, I was in the strong town Shushan, which is in the country of Elam; and in the vision I was by the water-door of the Ulai.

³And lifting up my eyes, I saw, there before the stream, a male sheep with two horns: and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, the higher one coming up last.

⁴I saw the sheep pushing to the west and to the north and to the south; and no beasts were able to keep their place before him, and no one was able to get people out of his power; but he did whatever his pleasure was and made himself great.

⁵And while I was giving thought to this, I saw a he-goat coming from the west over the face of all the earth without touching the earth: and the he-goat had a great horn between his eyes.

⁶And he came to the two-horned sheep which I saw before the stream, rushing at him in the heat of his power.

⁷And I saw him come right up to the sheep, and he was moved with wrath against him, attacking the sheep so that his two horns were broken; and the sheep had not strength to keep his place before him, but was pushed down on the earth and crushed under his feet: and there was no one to get the sheep out of his power.

⁸And the he-goat became very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and in its place came up four other horns turned to the four winds of heaven.

⁹And out of one of them came another horn, a little one, which became very great, stretching to the south and to the east and to the beautiful land.

¹⁰And it became great, even as high as the army of heaven, pulling down some of the army, even of the stars, to the earth and crushing them under its feet.

¹¹It made itself great, even as great as the lord of the army; and by it the regular burned offering was taken away, and the place overturned and the holy place made waste.

¹²... against the regular burned offering; and ... crushed down to the earth, and it did its pleasure and things went well for it.

¹³Then there came to my ears the voice of a holy one talking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was talking, How long will the vision be while the regular burned offering is taken away, and the unclean thing causing fear is put up, and the holy place crushed under foot?

¹⁴And he said to him, For two thousand, three hundred evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be made clean.

¹⁵And it came about that when I, Daniel, had seen this vision, I had a desire for the sense of it to be unfolded; and I saw one before me in the form of a man.

¹⁶And the voice of a man came to my ears between the sides of the Ulai, crying out and saying, Gabriel, make the vision clear to this man.

¹⁷So he came and took his place near where I was; and when he came, I was full of fear and went down on my face: but he said to me, Let it be clear to you, O son of man; for the vision has to do with the time of the end.

¹⁸Now while he was talking to me, I went into a deep sleep with my face to the earth: but touching me, he put me on my feet where I had been.

¹⁹And he said, See, I will make clear to you what is to come in the later time of the wrath: for it has to do with the fixed time of the end.

²⁰The sheep which you saw with two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia.

²¹And the he-goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn between his eyes is the first king.

²²And as for that which was broken, in place of which four came up, four kingdoms will come up from his nation, but not with his power.

²³And in the later years of their kingdom, when their evil doings have become complete, there will come up a king full of pride and expert in dark sayings.

²⁴And his power will be great, and he will be purposing strange things. And all will go well for him and he will do his pleasure; and he will send destruction on the strong ones.

²⁵And his designs will be turned against the holy people, causing deceit to do well in his hand; in his heart he will make himself great, and send destruction on numbers who are living unconscious of their danger; and he will put himself up against the prince of princes; but he will be broken, though not by men's hands.

²⁶And the vision of evenings and mornings which has been talked of is true: and keep the vision secret; for it has to do with the far-off future.

²⁷And I, Daniel, was ill for some days; then I got up and did the king's business: and I was full of wonder at the vision, but no one was able to give the sense of it.

Daniel 9

¹In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldaeans;

²In the first year of his rule, I, Daniel, saw clearly from the books the number of years given by the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, in which the making waste of Jerusalem was to be complete, that is, seventy years.

³And turning my face to the Lord God, I gave myself up to prayer, requesting his grace, going without food, in haircloth and dust.

⁴And I made prayer to the Lord my God, putting our sins before him, and said, O Lord, the great God, greatly to be feared. keeping your agreement and mercy with those who have love for you and do your orders;

⁵We are sinners, acting wrongly and doing evil; we have gone against you, turning away from your orders and from your laws:

⁶We have not given ear to your servants the prophets, who said words in your name to our kings and our rulers and our fathers and all the people of the land.

⁷O Lord, righteousness is yours, but shame is on us, even to this day; and on the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and on all Israel, those who are near and those who are far off, in all the countries where you have sent them because of the sin which they have done against you.

⁸O Lord, shame is on us, on our kings and our rulers and our fathers, because of our sin against you.

⁹With the Lord our God are mercies and forgiveness, for we have gone against him;

¹⁰And have not given ear to the voice of the Lord our God to go in the way of his laws which he put before us by the mouth of his servants the prophets.

¹¹And all Israel have been sinners against your law, turning away so as not to give ear to your voice: and the curse has been let loose on us, and the oath recorded in the law of Moses, the servant of God, for we have done evil against him.

¹²And he has given effect to his words which he said against us and against those who were our judges, by sending a great evil on us: for under all heaven there has not been done what has been done to Jerusalem.

¹³As it was recorded in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us: but we have made no prayer for grace from the Lord our God that we might be turned from our evil doings and come to true wisdom.

¹⁴So the Lord has been watching over this evil and has made it come on us: for the Lord our God is upright in all his acts which he has done, and we have not given ear to his voice.

¹⁵And now, O Lord our God, who took your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and made a great name for yourself even to this day; we are sinners, we have done evil.

¹⁶O Lord, because of your righteousness, let your wrath and your passion be turned away from your town Jerusalem, your holy mountain: because, through our sins and the evil-doing of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a cause of shame to all who are round about us.

¹⁷And now, give ear, O our God, to the prayer of your servant and to his request for grace, and let your face be shining on your holy place which is made waste, because of your servants, O Lord.

¹⁸O my God, let your ear be turned and give hearing; let your eyes be open and see how we have been made waste and the town which is named by your name: for we are not offering our prayers before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercies.

¹⁹O Lord, give ear; O Lord, have forgiveness; O Lord, take note and do; let there be no more waiting; for the honour of your name, O my God, because your town and your people are named by your name.

²⁰And while I was still saying these words in prayer, and putting my sins and the sins of my people Israel before the Lord, and requesting grace from the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God;

²¹Even while I was still in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at first when my weariness was great, put his hand on me about the time of the evening offering.

²²And teaching me and talking to me he said, O Daniel, I have come now to give you wisdom.

²³At the first word of your prayer a word went out, and I have come to give you knowledge; for you are a man dearly loved: so give thought to the word and let the vision be clear to you.

²⁴Seventy weeks have been fixed for your people and your holy town, to let wrongdoing be complete and sin come to its full limit, and for the clearing away of evil-doing and the coming in of eternal righteousness: so that the vision and the word of the prophet may be stamped as true, and to put the holy oil on a most holy place.

²⁵Have then the certain knowledge that from the going out of the word for the building again of Jerusalem till the coming of a prince, on whom the holy oil has been put, will be seven weeks: in sixty-two weeks its building will be complete, with square and earthwork.

²⁶And at the end of the times, even after the sixty-two weeks, one on whom the holy oil has been put will be cut off and have no...; and the town and the holy place will be made waste together with a prince; and the end will come with an overflowing of waters, and even to the end there will be war; the making waste which has been fixed.

²⁷And a strong order will be sent out against the great number for one week; and so for half of the week the offering and the meal offering will come to an end; and in its place will be an unclean thing causing fear; till the destruction which has been fixed is let loose on him who has made waste.

Daniel 10

¹In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a secret was unfolded to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, even a hard work: and he had knowledge of it, and the vision was clear to him.

²In those days I, Daniel, gave myself up to grief for three full weeks.

³I had no pleasing food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, and I put no oil on my body till three full weeks were ended.

⁴And on the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was by the side of the great river;

⁵And lifting up my eyes I saw the form of a man clothed in a linen robe, and round him there was a band of gold, of the best gold:

⁶And his body was like the beryl, and his face had the look of a thunder-flame, and his eyes were like burning lights, and his arms and feet like the colour of polished brass, and the sound of his voice was like the sound of an army.

⁷And I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see it; but a great shaking came on them and they went in flight to take cover.

⁸So I was by myself, and I saw this great vision, and all my strength went from me; and the colour went from my face.

⁹But the sound of his words came to my ears, and on hearing his voice I went into a deep sleep with my face to the earth.

¹⁰Then a hand gave me a touch, awaking me, and putting me on my knees and my hands.

¹¹And he said to me, O Daniel, you man dearly loved, take in the sense of the words I say to you and get up on to your feet: for to you I am now sent; and when he had said this to me I got on to my feet, shaking with fear.

¹²Then he said to me, Have no fear, Daniel; for from the first day when you gave your heart to getting wisdom and making yourself poor in spirit before your God, your words have come to his ears: and I have come because of your words.

¹³But the angel of the kingdom of Persia put himself against me for twenty-one days; but Michael, one of the chief angels, came to my help; and when I came he was still there with the angel of the kings of Persia.

¹⁴Now I have come to give you knowledge of the fate of your people in the later days; for there is still a vision for the days.

¹⁵And after he had said these words to me, I kept my face turned to the earth and was unable to say anything.

¹⁶Then one whose form was like the sons of men put his finger on my lips; and opening my mouth, I said to him who was before me, O my lord, because of the vision my pains have come on me, and I have no more strength.

¹⁷For how may this servant of my lord have talk with my lord? for, as for me, straight away my strength went from me and there was no breath in my body.

¹⁸Then again one having the form of a man put his hand on me and gave me strength.

¹⁹And he said to me, O man greatly loved, have no fear: peace be with you, be strong and let your heart be lifted up. And at his words I became strong, and said, Let my lord say on, for you have given me strength.

²⁰Then he said, It is clear to you why I have come to you. And now I will give you an account of what is recorded in the true writings:

²¹But I am going back to make war with the angel of Persia, and when I am gone, the angel of Greece will come. And there is no one on my side against these, but Michael, your angel.

Daniel 11

¹And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede I was on his side to make his position safe and make him strong.

²And now I will make clear to you what is true. There are still three kings to come in Persia, and the fourth will have much greater wealth than all of them: and when he has become strong through his wealth, he will put his forces in motion against all the kingdoms of Greece.

³And a strong king will come to power, ruling with great authority and doing whatever is his pleasure.

⁴And when he has become strong, his kingdom will be broken and parted to the four winds of heaven; but not to his offspring, for it will be uprooted; and his kingdom will be for the others and not for these: but not with the same authority as his.

⁵And the king of the south will be strong, but one of his captains will be stronger than he and will be ruler; and his rule will be a great rule.

⁶And at the end of years they will be joined together; and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she will not keep the strength of her arm; and his offspring will not keep their place; but she will be uprooted, with those who were the cause of her coming, and her son, and he who took her in those times.

⁷But out of a branch from her roots one will come up to take his place, who will come against the army, forcing his way into the strong place of the king of the north, and he will take them in hand and overcome them:

⁸And their gods and their metal images and their fair vessels of silver and gold he will take away into the south; and for some years he will keep away from the king of the north.

⁹And he will come into the kingdom of the king of the south, but he will go back to his land.

¹⁰And his son will make war, and will get together an army of great forces, and he will make an attack on him, overflowing and going past: and he will again take the war even to his strong place.

¹¹And the king of the south will be moved with wrath, and will come out and make war on him, on this same king of the north: and he will get together a great army, but the army will be given into his hand.

¹²And the army will be taken away, and his heart will be uplifted: he will be the cause of the downfall of tens of thousands, but he will not be strong.

¹³And again the king of the north will get together an army greater than the first; and he will make an attack on him at the end of years, with a great army and much wealth.

¹⁴In those times, a number will take up arms against the king of the south: and the children of the violent among your people will be lifting themselves up to make the vision come true; but it will be their downfall.

¹⁵So the king of the north will come, and put up earthworks and take a well-armed town: and the forces of the king of the south will make an attempt to keep their position, even the best of his army, but they will not have strength to do so.

¹⁶And he who comes against him will do his pleasure, and no one will be able to keep his place before him: he will take up his position in the beautiful land and in his hand there will be destruction.

¹⁷And it will be his purpose to come with the strength of all his kingdom, but in place of this he will make an agreement with him; and he will give him the daughter of women to send destruction on it; but this will not take place or come about.

¹⁸After this, his face will be turned to the islands, and he will take a number of them: but a chief, by his destruction, will put an end to the shame offered by him; and more than this, he will make his shame come back on him.

¹⁹Then his face will be turned to the strong places of his land: but his way will be stopped, causing his downfall, and he will not be seen again.

²⁰Then his place will be taken by one who will send out a man with the glory of a king to get wealth together; but after a short time destruction will overtake him, but not in wrath or in the fight.

²¹And his place will be taken by a low person, to whom the honour of the kingdom had not been given: but he will come in time of peace and will get the kingdom by fair words.

²²And his forces will be completely taken away from before him and broken; and even the ruler of the agreement will have the same fate.

²³And from the time when they make an agreement with him, he will be working falsely: for he will take up arms suddenly with a small force,

²⁴Against fertile places, and will make waste a part of the country; and he will do what his fathers have not done, or his fathers' fathers; he will make distribution among them of goods taken in war and by force, and of property: he will even make designs against the strong places for a time.

²⁵And he will put in motion his power and his strength against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south will go to war with a very great and strong army: but he will be forced to give way, because of their designs against him;

²⁶And his fears will overcome him and be the cause of his downfall, and his army will come to complete destruction, and a great number will be put to the sword.

²⁷And as for these two kings, their hearts will be fixed on doing evil and they will say false words at one table; but it will come to nothing: for the end will be at the time fixed.

²⁸And he will go back to his land with great wealth; and his heart will be against the holy agreement; and he will do his pleasure and go back to his land.

²⁹At the time fixed he will come back and come into the south; but in the later time it will not be as it was before.

³⁰For those who go out from the west will come against him, and he will be in fear and will go back, full of wrath against the holy agreement; and he will do his pleasure: and he will go back and be united with those who have given up the holy agreement.

³¹And armies sent by him will take up their position and they will make unclean the holy place, even the strong place, and take away the regular burned offering and put in its place an unclean thing causing fear.

³²And those who do evil against the agreement will be turned to sin by his fair words: but the people who have knowledge of their God will be strong and do well.

³³And those who are wise among the people will be the teachers of the mass of the people: but they will come to their downfall by the sword and by the flame, being made prisoners and undergoing loss for a long time.

³⁴Now at the time of their downfall they will have a little help, but numbers will be joined to them in the town, and in their separate heritages.

³⁵And some of those who are wise will have wisdom in testing themselves and making themselves clean, till the time of the end: for it is still for the fixed time.

³⁶And the king will do his pleasure; he will put himself on high, lifting himself over every god, and saying things to be wondered at against the God of gods; and all will be well for him till the wrath is complete; for what has been purposed will be done.

³⁷He will have no respect for the gods of his fathers or for the god desired by women; he will have no respect for any god: for he will put himself on high over all.

³⁸But in place of this he will give honour to the god of armed places, and to a god of whom his fathers had no knowledge he will give honour with gold and silver and jewels and things to be desired.

³⁹And he will make use of the people of a strange god to keep his strongest places; to those whom he takes note of he will give high honour: and he will make them rulers over the mass of the people, and will make division of the land for a price.

⁴⁰And at the time of the end, the king of the south will make an attack on him: and the king of the north will come against him like a storm-wind, with war-carriages and horsemen and numbers of ships; and he will go through many lands like overflowing waters.

⁴¹And he will come into the beautiful land, and tens of thousands will be overcome: but these will be kept from falling into his hands: Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon.

⁴²And his hand will be stretched out on the countries: and the land of the south will not be safe from him.

⁴³But he will have power over the stores of gold and silver, and over all the valued things of the south: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians will be at his steps.

⁴⁴But he will be troubled by news from the east and from the north; and he will go out in great wrath, to send destruction on, and put an end to, great numbers.

⁴⁵He will put the tents of his great house between the sea and the beautiful holy mountain: but he will come to his end with no helper.

Daniel 12

¹And at that time Michael will take up his place, the great angel, who is the supporter of the children of your people: and there will be a time of trouble, such as there never was from the time there was a nation even till that same time: and at that time your people will be kept safe, everyone who is recorded in the book.

²And a number of those who are sleeping in the dust of the earth will come out of their sleep, some to eternal life and some to eternal shame.

³And those who are wise will be shining like the light of the outstretched sky; and those by whom numbers have been turned to righteousness will be like the stars for ever and ever.

⁴But as for you, O Daniel, let the words be kept secret and the book rolled up and kept shut till the time of the end: numbers will be going out of the way and troubles will be increased.

⁵Then I, Daniel, looking, saw two others, one at the edge of the river on this side and one at the edge of the river on that side.

⁶And I said to the man clothed in linen, who was over the waters of the river, How long will it be to the end of these wonders?

⁷Then in my hearing the man clothed in linen, who was over the river, lifting up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, took an oath by him who is living for ever that it would be a time, times, and a half; and when the power of the crusher of the holy people comes to an end, all these things will be ended.

⁸And the words came to my ears, but the sense of them was not clear to me: then I said, O my lord, what is the sense of these things?

⁹And he said, Go on your way, Daniel: for the words are secret and shut up till the time of the end;

¹⁰Till a number are tested and make themselves clean; and the evil-doers will do evil; for not one of the evil-doers will have knowledge; but all will be made clear to those who are wise.

¹¹And from the time when the regular burned offering is taken away, and an unclean thing causing fear is put up, there will be a thousand, two hundred and ninety days.

¹²A blessing will be on the man who goes on waiting, and comes to the thousand, three hundred and thirty-five days.

¹³But you, go on your way and take your rest: for you will be in your place at the end of the days.