The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Prophecy of Daniel
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Chapter 11
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1
Him to strengthen and uphold has been my task,✻ ever since Darius the Mede began reigning.
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And now, doom to foreshew thee, a king shall rise in Persia,✻ the fourth from this, rich in great revenue beyond all the others; in the power such wealth gives him, he will set the whole world in motion against the realm of Greece …
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And a warrior king shall arise, winning such empire that there is no resisting his will.✻
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Divided that empire shall be, as soon as it is established, between the four quarters of heaven; not sons of his they shall be that rule it, nor peers of his; besides these, foreign lords shall part his dominions between them.
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The southern kingdom a strong ruler shall have, but of his vassals one shall be mightier than he, and in dominion excel him; wide, wide his domain;
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until at last these two make terms between them, and, to seal their amity, daughter of Egyptian king to Syrian king must pass.✻ Yet thrive she may not, nor dynasty of hers endure; herself in due time, with retinue of hers, faction of hers, must be a victim.
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Not unavenged; scion of her own father’s stock shall march on Syria, and do battle, and prevail;
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shall carry off to Egypt the images of Syria’s gods, its treasures of silver and gold. Then, his rival mastered,
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with that inroad he shall be content, and to his own kingdom return.
10
To Syria’s heirs the quarrel is left; and now there are great hosts a-mustering, under a new king that must ever be hurrying on, like river in flood, returning with spirit to the charge, throwing all his forces into the assault.
11
See with what fury the Egyptian king takes the field against him, rallies a great host of his own, and over Syria’s host gains the mastery!
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Captives a many, dead warriors a many, to gladden his heart, but all to no purpose;
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back Syria comes, in greater force than ever, ranks filled, and treasures swollen, with the years.
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All the world will be for picking a quarrel with Egypt then; hot-heads there will be among thy own people who think to fulfil the old prophecies thus, but to their cost.
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On marches he, yonder Syrian king, raises mound, and makes fortified cities his own; Egypt’s vigour is all spent, never a halt, though its best warriors engage him;
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irresistible he comes, to impose terms on his enemy, sets foot in a noble land✻ and crushes it under his heel.
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How to gain secure possession of the whole kingdom? A bargain must be struck; gift of a royal bride shall be the land’s undoing! But no, that will not serve, never shall it be his.
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To the sea-coast he turns his thoughts instead, and conquers lands a many; puts to silence the author of his own disgrace, and covers him with disgrace in his turn.✻
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But at last, to his own province turning back, he totters to his fall, and the fame of him is heard no more.
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To a vile creature his throne must pass, of a throne unworthy; soon shall his end come, and yet no blow struck in anger, or in battle.✻
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And after him a man little thought of; royal investiture he has none, yet see how stealthy his approach, what shifts he uses to win a throne!✻
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Down go strong armies, crushed before him, down goes covenanted chief;✻
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treaty first, and then treachery; of armed following he needs but little.
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So he makes his way into rich cities that suspect no harm, outdoes father and grandsire both in havoc, so much wealth to plunder and to squander; into strong cities, too, by crafty devices, while fortune serves.
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Power of his and policy of his he shall match at last against Egypt, with a great army at his back; alas, Egypt, what avails that great muster of warriors? Craft wins the day;
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men that feed on thy royal bounty are thy own undoing, and with great slaughter that army of thine is overborne.
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See where the two kings plot mischief at one table, liars both! But nothing they shall achieve; not yet the appointed hour has come.
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Back goes the king of Syria, enriched with spoil, wreaking his spite on God’s covenant as he journeys home;
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then, when the time is ripe, marches once again southwards. Yet speed he shall not as once he sped;
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here are Roman galleys✻ overtaking him, and he must return discomfited.
And now, as he returns, he shall vent his spleen against the holy covenant in good earnest. The forsakers of that covenant have not escaped his eye,
And now, as he returns, he shall vent his spleen against the holy covenant in good earnest. The forsakers of that covenant have not escaped his eye,
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and there are willing hands a many to help him profane the inviolable sanctuary, daily sacrifice annulling, spreading defilement and desolation there.
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Fawning knaves, and traitors to the covenant! But those others, that their God acknowledge, shall go all the more boldly to work,
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counsellors a few that give right counsel to many. Crippled they shall be for a while, by sword and flame, by prison and plunder;
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then, even as they are falling, it will need but a little support, and the fickle multitude will rally to their side.
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What if some of them should fall, those wise counsellors? Assayed let them be for a little, sifted, purged for a little; there shall be happier times yet.
36
As for the king, he shall have all his own way; in his pride, he will think himself a match for any god, even of that God boast himself the rival, who is above all gods, And still he shall thrive; vengeance is not yet ready to overtake him; doom shall come when doom must.
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What are his fathers’ gods to him? Women’s dalliance is all his concern; of gods he recks little, that will set himself up over all.
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When his turn comes, it is the god of Maozim✻ he will worship; for such a god, that never his fathers knew, the gold, and the silver, and the precious jewels;
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with this new-found god to aid him, he will make Maozim his stronghold, shower honours and dignities upon its folk, make a present of lands to them.
40
Then comes the hour of destiny. Egypt shall declare war, and he, the Syrian king, shall sweep down upon it with horse and chariot and a great fleet.
41
Which lands will he invade and conquer, which pass by, ere he reach the noblest of them all? Ruined a many shall be, but Edom shall escape his onslaught, and Moab, and the princedom of Ammon.
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A country here he will attempt, a country there, and be sure Egypt shall not go unscathed;
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gold and silver of Egypt, and all its precious treasures shall come into his power. Then, as through Libya and Ethiopia he makes his way,
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tidings shall come from east and north, to bring him back with all his host, ready for havoc, ready for carnage.
