Study Desk

He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I’m saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” After he said this to me, I stood trembling.

“Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers.

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the last days, for the vision refers to those days.”

He will take even their gods captive to Egypt, with their metal images and their precious articles of silver and gold. For some years he will stay away from the king of the North,

“His sons will mobilize for war and assemble a large number of armed forces. They will advance, sweeping through like a flood, and will again wage war as far as his fortress.

“In his place one will arise who will send out a tax collector for the glory of the kingdom; but within a few days he will be broken, though not in anger or in battle.

During a time of peace, he will come into the richest parts of the province and do what his fathers and predecessors never did. He will lavish plunder, loot, and wealth on his followers, and he will make plans against fortified cities, but only for a time.

“With a large army he will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the South. The king of the South will prepare for battle with an extremely large and powerful army, but he will not succeed, because plots will be made against him.

The two kings, whose hearts are bent on evil, will speak lies at the same table but to no avail, for still the end will come at the appointed time.

Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to many, yet they will fall by the sword and flame, and be captured and plundered for a time.

Some of those who have insight will fall so that they may be refined, purified, and cleansed until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.

He will not show regard for the gods of his fathers, the god desired by women, or for any other god, because he will magnify himself above all.

Then I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the water of the river. He raised both his hands toward heaven and swore by him who lives eternally that it would be for a time, times, and half a time. When the power of the holy people is shattered, all these things will be completed.

He said, “Go on your way, Daniel, for the words are secret and sealed until the time of the end.

Happy is the one who waits for and reaches 1,335 days.

But as for you, go on your way to the end; you will rest, and then you will stand to receive your allotted inheritance at the end of the days.”

And the Judeans and the Israeliteswill be gathered together.They will appoint for themselves a single rulerand go up from the land.For the day of Jezreel will be great.

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;she will look for them but not find them.Then she will think,“I will go back to my former husband,for then it was better for me than now.”

She does not recognizethat it is I who gave her the grain,the new wine, and the fresh oil.I lavished silver and gold on her,which they used for Baal.