Study Desk

The authority and rule of the other animals had been taken from them. But they were permitted to live for a certain period of time.

But God's holy people will receive the kingdom, and they will have the kingdom forever and ever.'

"‘But the court will decide what should happen, and that king's power will be taken away. His kingdom will end completely.

I looked up and saw a ram standing at the side of the river. The ram had two long horns. The horns were both long, but one horn was longer than the other horn. The long horn was farther back than the other horn.

So the goat became very powerful. But after he became strong, his big horn broke off. Then four horns grew in place of the one big horn. Those four horns were easy to see. They pointed in four different directions.

So Gabriel, the angel who looked like a man, came to me. I was very afraid and fell down to the ground. But Gabriel said to me, "Human, understand that this vision is about the time of the end."

That horn broke off and four horns grew in its place. The four horns are four kingdoms. Those four kingdoms will come from the nation of the first king, but they will not be as strong as the first king.

This king will be very powerful, but his power does not come from himself. This king will cause terrible destruction. He will be successful in everything he does. He will destroy powerful people—even God's holy people.

"This king will be very smart and tricky. He will use his wisdom and lies to be successful. He will think that he is very important. He will destroy many people, when they least expect it. He will try to fight even the Prince of Princes. But that cruel king's power will be destroyed, and it will not be a human hand that destroys him.

"What I said and the vision about those times are true. But seal up the vision, because those things will not happen for a long, long time."

I, Daniel, became very weak. I was sick for several days after that vision. Then I got up and went back to work for the king, but I was very upset about the vision. I did not understand what it meant.

These things happened during the first year that Darius son of Ahasuerus was king. Darius was a Mede by birth, but he was appointed to be the king of Babylon.

"But we have sinned. We have done wrong. We have done evil things. We turned against you. We turned away from your commands and good decisions.

The prophets were your servants. They spoke for you to our kings, to our leaders, to our fathers, and to the common people in our country. But we did not listen to them.

"But, Lord our God, you are kind and forgiving, even though we rebelled against you.

We have not obeyed the Lord our God. He used his servants, the prophets, and gave us laws, but we have not obeyed his laws.

All those terrible things happened to us. This happened just as it is written in the Law of Moses, but we still have not asked the Lord our God for help. We still have not stopped sinning. We still do not pay attention to your truth, Lord.

The Lord kept the terrible things ready for us—he made them happen to us. The Lord our God did this because he is fair in everything he does. But we still have not listened to him.

"Learn and understand these things, Daniel. From the time that the message went out to go back and rebuild Jerusalem until the time for the chosen king to come will be seven weeks. Then Jerusalem will be rebuilt. There will again be places for people to meet together in Jerusalem, and there will be a ditch around the city to protect it. Jerusalem will be built for 62 weeks, but there will be many troubles during that time.

"Then the future ruler will make an agreement with many people. That agreement will continue for one week. The offerings and sacrifices will stop for a half of a week. And a destroyer will come. He will do terrible, destructive things, but God has ordered that destroyer to be completely destroyed."