Speaking the Truth

1. “As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him. 2. “Now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings will stand up in Persia; and the fourth will be far richer than all of them. When he has grown strong through his riches, he will stir up all against the realm of Greece. 3. A mighty king will stand up, who will rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 4. When he stands up, his kingdom will be broken, and will be divided toward the four winds of the sky, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom will be plucked up, even for others besides these. 5. “The king of the south will be strong. One of his princes will become stronger than him, and have dominion. His dominion will be a great dominion. 6. At the end of years they will join themselves together; and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make an agreement; but she will not retain the strength of her arm. He will also not stand, nor will his arm; but she will be given up, with those who brought her, and he who became the father of her, and he who strengthened her in those times. 7. “But out of a shoot from her roots one will stand up in his place, who will come to the army, and will enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and will deal against them, and will prevail. 8. He will also carry their gods, with their molten images, and with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, captive into Egypt. He will refrain some years from the king of the north. 9. He will come into the realm of the king of the south, but he will return into his own land. 10. His sons will wage war, and will assemble a multitude of great forces, which will come on, and overflow, and pass through. They will return and wage war, even to his fortress. 11. “The king of the south will be moved with anger, and will come out and fight with him, even with the king of the north. He will send out a great multitude, and the multitude will be given into his hand. 12. The multitude will be lifted up, and his heart will be exalted. He will cast down tens of thousands, but he won’t prevail. 13. The king of the north will return, and will send out a multitude greater than the former. He will come on at the end of the times, even of years, with a great army and with much substance. 14. “In those times many will stand up against the king of the south. Also the children of the violent among your people will lift themselves up to establish the vision; but they will fall. 15. So the king of the north will come and cast up a mound, and take a well-fortified city. The forces of the south won’t stand, neither will his chosen people, neither will there be any strength to stand. 16. But he who comes against him will do according to his own will, and no one will stand before him. He will stand in the glorious land, and destruction will be in his hand. 17. He will set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and with him equitable conditions. He will perform them. He will give him the daughter of women, to corrupt her; but she will not stand, and won’t be for him. 18. After this he will turn his face to the islands, and will take many; but a prince will cause the reproach offered by him to cease. Yes, moreover, he will cause his reproach to turn on him. 19. Then he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land; but he will stumble and fall, and won’t be found. 20. “Then one who will cause a tax collector to pass through the kingdom to maintain its glory will stand up in his place; but within few days he shall be destroyed, not in anger, and not in battle. 21. “In his place a contemptible person will stand up, to whom they had not given the honor of the kingdom; but he will come in time of security, and will obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22. The overwhelming forces will be overwhelmed from before him, and will be broken. Yes, also the prince of the covenant. 23. After the treaty made with him he will work deceitfully; for he will come up, and will become strong, with a small people. 24. In time of security he will come even on the fattest places of the province. He will do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers. He will scatter among them prey, plunder, and substance. Yes, he will devise his plans against the strongholds, even for a time. 25. “He will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south will wage war in battle with an exceedingly great and mighty army; but he won’t stand; for they will devise plans against him. 26. Yes, those who eat of his dainties will destroy him, and his army will be swept away. Many will fall down slain. 27. As for both these kings, their hearts will be to do mischief, and they will speak lies at one table; but it won’t prosper, for the end will still be at the appointed time. 28. Then he will return into his land with great wealth. His heart will be against the holy covenant. He will take action, and return to his own land. 29. “He will return at the appointed time, and come into the south; but it won’t be in the latter time as it was in the former. 30. For ships of Kittim will come against him. Therefore he will be grieved, and will return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and will take action. He will even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31. “Forces will stand on his part, and they will profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and will take away the continual burnt offering. Then they will set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32. He will corrupt those who do wickedly against the covenant by flatteries; but the people who know their God will be strong, and take action. 33. “Those who are wise among the people will instruct many; yet they will fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder, many days. 34. Now when they fall, they will be helped with a little help; but many will join themselves to them with flatteries. 35. Some of those who are wise will 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. 36. “The king will do according to his will. He will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and will speak marvelous things against the God of gods. He will prosper until the indignation is accomplished; for that which is determined will be done. 37. He won’t regard the gods of his fathers, or the desire of women, or regard any god; for he will magnify himself above all. 38. But in his place he will honor the god of fortresses. He will honor a god whom his fathers didn’t know with gold, silver, and with precious stones and pleasant things. 39. He will deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god. He will increase with glory whoever acknowledges him. He will cause them to rule over many, and will divide the land for a price. 40. “At the time of the end the king of the south will contend with him; and the king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships. He will enter into the countries, and will overflow and pass through. 41. He will enter also into the glorious land, and many countries will be overthrown; but these will be delivered out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42. He will also stretch out his hand on the countries. The land of Egypt won’t escape. 43. But he will have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. The Libyans and the Ethiopians will be at his steps. 44. But news out of the east and out of the north will trouble him; and he will go out with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many. 45. He will plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.

12

1. “At that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there will be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. At that time your people will be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. 2. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3. Those who are wise will shine as the brightness of the expanse. Those who turn many to righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever. 4. But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many will run back and forth, and knowledge will be increased.” 5. Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on the river bank on this side, and the other on the river bank on that side. 6. One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be to the end of these wonders?” 7. I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever that it will be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have finished breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things will be finished. 8. I heard, but I didn’t understand. Then I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these things?” 9. He said, “Go your way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10. Many will purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked will do wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand; but those who are wise will understand. 11. “From the time that the continual burnt offering is taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there will be one thousand two hundred ninety days. 12. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred thirty-five days.

1. Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, even as also with you, 2. and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for not all have faith. 3. But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. 4. We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you both do and will do the things we command. 5. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love, and into the perseverance of Christ. 6. Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us. 7. For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you, 8. neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you, 9. not because we don’t have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us. 10. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone is not willing to work, don’t let him eat.” 11. For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don’t work at all, but are busybodies. 12. Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they work with quietness and eat their own bread. 13. But you, brothers, don’t be weary in doing what is right. 14. If any man doesn’t obey our word in this letter, note that man, that you have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed. 15. Don’t count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. 16. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all. 17. The greeting of me, Paul, with my own hand, which is the sign in every letter: this is how I write. 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

10. Yahweh turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends. Yahweh gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11. Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold. 12. So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. 13. He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14. He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch. 15. In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16. After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations. 17. So Job died, being old and full of days.