The angel gives his message to Daniel
2 Then the angel said to Daniel, ‘Now I will tell you the truth about what will happen. There will be three more kings who rule Persia. After them, there will be a fourth king. He will be richer than all the other kings who ruled before him. He will become very powerful because of his riches. Then he will tell other nations that they must attack the kingdom of Greece.
3 Then a great king will appear. He will rule with great power. He will do whatever he wants to do. 4 While he rules powerfully like that, his kingdom will quickly break into four parts. Those parts will be in all directions. His descendants will not rule his kingdom. Instead, other people will rule as kings, but their kingdoms will not be as powerful.
11:3This great king was Alexander the Great.
5 Then the king who rules in the south will become strong. But one of his own army officers will become even stronger. That officer will rule a greater kingdom than the king of the south.
11:5The king of the south was the king of Egypt.
6 After some years, the king of the south and the king of the north will agree to be friends. The king of the south's daughter will go to marry the king of the north. That would make their agreement strong. But the plan will fail. She will lose her authority. Her husband will no longer rule as king. Someone will kill her, her husband, her child and the servants who helped her.
11:6The king of the north was the king of Syria.
7 Later, someone from her family will become king of the south. He will attack the army of the king of the north. He will go into that king's strong city. He will win the battle against the king of the north. 8 He will take the images of their gods back to Egypt with him. He will also take away valuable things that they had made from gold and silver. Then for several years, he will not attack the king of the north again.
9 After that, the king of the north will take his army into the land that the king of the south rules. But they will cause him to return to his own country. 10 Then his sons will prepare to fight a war. They will bring together a large army. Their soldiers will march forward like a powerful river. They will fight a battle all the way into the strong place of their enemy.
11:10Israel was in the middle, between Egypt and Syria. Perhaps Syria's army was moving south into Israel. But Egypt's army then marches north to attack them.
11 Then the king of the south will be very angry. He will march with his army to fight against the king of the north. The king from the north will also have a large army, but the king of the south will win the battle. 12 The king of the south will boast that he has destroyed this large army. He will be proud that he has killed thousands of people. But he will not continue to win battles. 13 The king of the north will again bring together a large army. It will be even bigger than the army that he had before. After a few years, he will march forward with his great army and all their many weapons.
14 At that time, many people will turn against the king of the south. Violent men from your own people in Israel will also be ready to attack him. This would make the vision become true. They will fight against him, but they will fail. 15 Then the king from the north will march south with his army. He will build up heaps of earth around the walls of a strong city. He will take the city for himself. The soldiers of the kingdom in the south will not be able to stop him. Even their best soldiers will not be strong enough to win the fight. 16 The king who attacked from the north will do whatever he wants to do. Nobody will be able to stop him. He will march into the Beautiful Land. He will have the power to destroy it.
11:15Soldiers built heaps of earth like this so that they could climb over the walls and attack the city.
11:16The Beautiful Land was Israel, the land that God had given to his people as their home.
17 The king from the north will decide to march south with all his kingdom's strong army. He will make an agreement with the king of the south. He will give one of his daughters to marry the king of the south. He will try to destroy that kingdom, but his plan will fail. His daughter will not be able to do anything to help him.
18 After this, he will decide to attack the countries near the sea. He will take many of their cities for himself. But an officer of a foreign army will stop him. He will cause the king of the north to stop boasting. He will no longer be proud but he will be ashamed. 19 So the king of the north will return to the strong cities in his own country. But he will lose his power and he will fall. Nobody will ever see him again.
20 Then another king will rule in the north. He will try to make his kingdom even greater. He will send out a cruel man to take taxes from people. But that king will soon die. This will not happen in a battle or because people are angry with him.
