Old/New Testament
Chapter 11
1 “As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I came forth to support and strengthen him.
Early Struggles between Seleucids and Ptolemies.[a] 2 “Now I shall tell you the truth about these things. Three more kings shall arise in Persia. Then a fourth will appear who will be far richer than all of them, and when he has enhanced his power through his wealth, he will mobilize the entire empire against the kingdom of Greece.[b]
3 “Then a powerful king[c] shall arise who will govern a vast empire and do whatever he pleases. 4 But as his power continues to increase, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out to the four winds of heaven. However, it will not be inherited by his descendants, nor will it be ruled in the same fashion, for his kingdom will be uprooted and pass to others rather than to his descendants.
5 “The king of the south shall grow strong, but one of his princes shall grow even stronger and rule an empire greater than his. 6 After some years the two will enter into an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north. However, she will not be able to retain her power, and his offspring will not endure. She will be handed over, along with her attendants and her child and her husband.[d]
7 “Later on, a descendant[e] from her line will arise to take her place. He shall penetrate the defenses of the king of the north, enter his stronghold, and succeed in conquering them. 8 He will even carry away into Egypt, as spoils of war, their gods, with their molten images and precious vessels of silver and gold. For several years he will refrain from attacking the king of the north.
9 “After that, the latter will invade the kingdom of the king of the south, but then return to his own country. 10 However, his sons will prepare for war and assemble a great army that will sweep forth like a flood and advance as far as the enemy’s fortress.[f]
11 “The king of the south will then become enraged and set out to engage in battle with the king of the north. The latter will muster an immense army that will suffer a crushing defeat and be carried off.[g] 12 The heart of the king of the south shall be exalted, and he shall slaughter tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail.[h] 13 For the king of the north will once again raise another army, even larger than before, and finally, after some years, he will advance with a huge force and a great abundance of supplies.
14 “During those times many will take up arms against the king of the south. However, those among your own people who are lawless will rebel in fulfillment of the vision, but they will fail. 15 Then the king of the north will come and erect siege-works and capture the well-fortified city. The army of the south will not be able to withstand him, and not even the elite forces will be strong enough to resist.
16 “The invader will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him. He will establish a stronghold in the glorious land, and it shall fall completely into his power. 17 He will set his mind on conquering the entire kingdom and will make a treaty with the king of the south. Further, he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but this will not succeed or be to his advantage.[i]
18 “Next he will focus his attention on the coastlands and capture many of them, but a commander will put a stop to his outrageous conduct and turn his insolence back upon him.[j] 19 He shall then turn back to the strongholds of his own land, but he will stumble and fall, never to be seen again. 20 His successor[k] shall send forth a tax collector throughout the glorious kingdom, but within a short time this king will also be overthrown and meet his end, although not in anger or in battle.
21 Antiochus IV Epiphanes.“His place shall be taken by a despicable creature upon whom the royal insignia shall not be conferred. Rather, he will come forth without any warning and seize the kingdom through stealth and fraud. 22 A powerful army shall be completely routed and crushed by him. Both it and the prince of the covenant[l] will be destroyed.
23 “After he enters into an alliance, he will act deceitfully, and by treacherous means he will rise to power with only a few supporters. 24 Without advance warning he will invade the most prosperous provinces and do what his fathers or his grandfathers had never done, lavishing plunder, spoil, and riches among them, yet all the while devising plans against their strongholds, but only for a time.
25 “He shall arouse his strength and courage to lead a great army against the kingdom of the south. Meanwhile the king of the south will wage war with a much greater and more powerful army, but he will not succeed because of the plots devised against him. 26 Even those who shared his food will seek to destroy him. His army will be swept away, and many will be slain in battle.[m]
27 “The two kings, their hearts bent on evil though seated at the same table, will exchange lies, but they will not succeed, because the end will not take place until the appointed time. 28 Then the king of the north will return to his land with great riches, but his heart will be set against the holy covenant. He will devise his future plans and return to his own land.
29 “At the appointed time he shall return again to the south, but this time the outcome will not be as it was before. 30 For ships of the Kittim shall come against him, and he will lose heart and withdraw. As he retreats he will vent his fury and direct his energy against the holy covenant, and he will once again show his favor to those who forsake that holy covenant.
31 “Armed forces of his shall obey his command to desecrate the sanctuary, abolish the daily sacrifice, and install the abomination that causes desolation.[n] 32 He will seduce by his deceit those who break the covenant, but those people who are loyal to their God will stand firm and take action.
33 “Wise leaders of the nation shall instruct many, although for a time they will fall by the sword and fire or suffer captivity and exile. 34 When they fall, they will receive a little help, but many will have ulterior motives in offering support. 35 Some of the wise leaders will stumble so that they may be tested, refined, and purified, until the end time, which is still appointed to come.
36 “The king will do as he pleases, exalting himself and considering himself to be greater than any god. He will utter monstrous blasphemies against the God of gods, and he will prosper until the period of divine wrath is completed, for what has been determined must be fulfilled. 37 He shall have no regard for the gods of his ancestors or for the god beloved by women[o] or for any other god, for he shall consider himself greater than all.
38 “Instead of these, he will honor the god of fortresses, a god unknown to his ancestors. This god he shall honor with gold and silver, precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He will assign the people of a foreign god to defend the fortresses, and he will confer great honors on those whom he favors by appointing them as rulers over many people and distributing land to them as a reward.[p]
40 The End Time.[q]“When the time comes for the end, the king of the south will prepare to attack the king of the north, but the latter will overwhelm him with chariots and cavalry and a large fleet. He will invade countries and sweep over them like a flood. 41 He will invade the beautiful land, and many countries will fall, but Edom and Moab and the leaders of the Ammonites will escape from his power.
42 “He will extend his power over many countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. 43 He will seize control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, and the Libyans and Ethiopians will be subject to him.
44 “However, reports from the east and the north shall be a cause of alarm to him, and he will set out in great fury to bring ruin and total destruction to many. 45 He will pitch the tents of the royal pavilion between the sea and the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with no one to help him.
Chapter 12
1 “At that time there shall arise
Michael, the great prince,
the guardian of your people.
Then there will be a period
that will be unsurpassed in distress
since nations first came into existence.
At that time your own people will be spared,
everyone whose names are found written in the book.
2 “Many of those shall awake
who sleep in the dust of the earth.
Some shall gain everlasting life;
others will earn shame and everlasting disgrace.
3 However, the wise will shine
like the brightness of the heavens,
and those who lead many to righteousness
will be as bright as the stars forever and ever.
4 As for you, Daniel,
keep these words secret,
and seal the book until the time of the end.
Many shall fall away,
and evils shall increase.”
Daniel’s Final Revelation.[r] 5 I, Daniel, then looked and saw two others standing, one on the bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. 6 One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was upstream, “How long shall it be until these incredible events take place?”
7 The man robed in linen who was upstream raised both his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, “It will be for a year, for two years, and half a year, and then all these things will cease when the power of the destroyer of the holy people will come to an end.”
8 I heard what was said but I did not understand, so I asked, “My lord, what will be the outcome of all these things?” 9 He replied, “Go on your way, Daniel, for these words are to be kept secret and remain sealed until the end time.
10 “Many shall be purified, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked will persist in their evil ways. 11 From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the appalling abomination is set up, one thousand two hundred and ninety days will elapse.
12 “Blessed is the man who perseveres and attains one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. 13 But you, go on your way and rest. Then you will rise for your reward at the end of the ages.”
Salutation. 1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and the brother of James,[a] to those who have been called, who are dear to God the Father and have been kept safe by Jesus Christ: 2 may mercy, peace, and love be granted you in abundance.
Benefits of Being a Christian. 3 Beloved, I was just at the point of writing to you about the salvation we share, when it became necessary for me to write and urge you to fight earnestly for the faith that was once and for all entrusted to the saints.[b] 4 For certain men have infiltrated your ranks, people who long ago were designated for condemnation.[c] These godless persons pervert the grace of our God into an excuse for immorality and disown our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Character and Doom of the False Teachers.[d] 5 Although you already know all this, allow me to remind you that the Lord, who once delivered the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who refused to believe.[e] 6 Remember also that the angels, who were dissatisfied with the dominion that had been assigned to them and abandoned their proper dwelling place, have been kept bound by him in darkness with eternal chains until the judgment of the great Day.[f] 7 And do not fail to remember Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities, which in a similar way indulged in sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who undergo the punishment of eternal fire.[g]
8 In the same way, these dreamers defile their bodies, make light of authority, and insult celestial beings.[h] 9 Even the archangel Michael, when he engaged in an argument with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but instead said: “May the Lord rebuke you!”[i] 10 However, these people pour abuse on anything they do not understand, and the very things that they know by instinct, like irrational animals, lead to their destruction.
11 Woe to them! They have followed in the footsteps of Cain; they have abandoned themselves to the error of Balaam for the sake of gain; and they have perished in the rebellion of Korah.[j] 12 [k]They are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without fear. They are shepherds who feed only themselves. They are like clouds blown about by winds without giving rain, or like trees in autumn barren and uprooted and so twice dead. 13 They are like wild sea waves whose foam reflects their shameless deeds, or like wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness is stored up forever. 14 [l]Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, also prophesied against them when he said, “Behold, the Lord is coming with tens of thousands of his saints, 15 to pronounce judgment on humanity and to convict all the ungodly for all the godless deeds that each has impiously committed and for all the defiant words spoken against him by godless sinners.” 16 These are grumblers and fault-finders. They indulge their own passions,[m] and their mouths are full of bombastic talk as they flatter others in order to achieve their own ends.
17 Appeal to the Faithful. But you, dear friends, must remember the predictions made by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.[n] 18 For they said to you, “In the final age there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly passions.”[o] 19 It is these people who create divisions, who follow their natural instincts and do not possess the Spirit.
20 A Program of the Christian Life.[p] However, you, dear friends, must build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God as you await our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy, who will grant you eternal life.
22 Have compassion for those who are wavering. 23 Save others by snatching them out of the fire. And for still others have compassion mixed with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.
24 Doxology.[q] Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to bring you safely to his glorious presence, unblemished and rejoicing, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, now, and forevermore. Amen.
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