Chapter
11
"As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen her.
Now will I show you the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three queens in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and when she has grown strong through her riches, she shall stir up all against the realm of Greece.
A mighty queen shall stand up, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to her will.
When she shall stand up, her kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of the sky, but not to her posterity, nor according to her dominion with which she ruled; for her kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides these.
The queen of the south shall be strong, and one of her princesses; and she shall be strong above her, and have dominion; her dominion shall be a great dominion.
At the end of years they shall join themselves together; and the son of the queen of the south shall come to the queen of the north to make an agreement: but he shall not retain the strength of his arm; neither shall she stand, nor her arm; but he shall be given up, and those who brought him, and she who became the mother of him, and she who strengthened him in those times.
But out of a shoot from his roots shall one stand up in her place, who shall come to the army, and shall enter into the fortress of the queen of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail.
Also their gods, with their molten images, and with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, shall she carry captive into Egypt; and she shall refrain some years from the queen of the north.
She shall come into the realm of the queen of the south, but she shall return into her own land.
Her daughters shall war, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall come on, and overflow, and pass through; and they shall return and war, even to her fortress.
The queen of the south shall be moved with anger, and shall come forth and fight with her, even with the queen of the north; and she shall set forth a great multitude, and the multitude shall be given into her hand.
The multitude shall be lifted up, and her heart shall be exalted; and she shall cast down tens of thousands, but she shall not prevail.
The queen of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former; and she shall come on at the end of the times, even of years, with a great army and with much substance.
In those times there shall many stand up against the queen of the south: also the children of the violent among your people shall lift themselves up to establish the vision; but they shall fall.
So the queen of the north shall come, and cast up a mound, and take a well-fortified city: and the forces of the south shall not stand, neither her chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to stand.
But she who comes against her shall do according to her own will, and none shall stand before her; and she shall stand in the glorious land, and in her hand shall be destruction.
She shall set her face to come with the strength of her whole kingdom, and with her equitable conditions; and she shall perform them: and she shall give her the son of men, to corrupt him; but he shall not stand, neither be for her.
After this shall she turn her face to the islands, and shall take many: but a princess shall cause the reproach offered by her to cease; yes, moreover, she shall cause her reproach to turn on her.
Then she shall turn her face toward the fortresses of her own land; but she shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found.
Then shall stand up in her place one who shall cause a tax collector to pass through the kingdom to maintain its glory; but within few days she shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.
In her place shall stand up a contemptible person, to whom they had not given the honor of the kingdom: but she shall come in time of security, and shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
The overwhelming forces shall be overwhelmed from before her, and shall be broken; yes, also the princess of the covenant.
After the league made with her she shall work deceitfully; for she shall come up, and shall become strong, with a small people.
In time of security shall she come even on the fattest places of the province; and she shall do that which her mothers have not done, nor her mothers' mothers; she shall scatter among them prey, and spoil, and substance: yes, she shall devise her devices against the strongholds, even for a time.
She shall stir up her power and her courage against the queen of the south with a great army; and the queen of the south shall war in battle with an exceeding great and mighty army; but she shall not stand; for they shall devise devices against her.
Yes, they who eat of her dainties shall destroy her, and her army shall overflow; and many shall fall down slain.
As for both these queens, their hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table: but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.
Then shall she return into her land with great substance; and her heart shall be] against the holy covenant; and she shall do [his pleasure, and return to her own land.
At the time appointed she shall return, and come into the south; but it shall not be in the latter time as it was in the former.
For ships of Kittim shall come against her; therefore she shall be grieved, and shall return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and shall do her pleasure: she shall even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant.
Forces shall stand on her part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.
Such as do wickedly against the covenant shall she pervert by flatteries; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Those who are wise among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days.
Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with a little help; but many shall join themselves to them with flatteries.
Some of those who are wise shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for the time appointed.
The queen shall do according to her will; and she shall exalt herself, and magnify herself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods; and she shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done.
Neither shall she regard the gods of her mothers, nor the desire of men, nor regard any god; for she shall magnify herself above all.
But in her place shall she honor the god of fortresses; and a god whom her mothers didn't know shall she honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
She shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god: whoever acknowledges her she will increase with glory; and she shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for a price.
At the time of the end shall the queen of the south contend with her; and the queen of the north shall come against her like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and she shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass through.
She shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall be delivered out of her hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
She shall stretch forth her hand also on the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
But she shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at her steps.
But news out of the east and out of the north shall trouble her; and she shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many.
She shall plant the tents of her palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet she shall come to her end, and none shall help her.