Daniel’s Terrifying Vision of a Man

10 In the third year of ^hCyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was ⁱtrue, and it was a great conflict.¹ And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision.

2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. 3 I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. 4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris) 5 I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a ^jman clothed in linen, ^kwith a belt of fine gold from ^lUphaz around his waist. 6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, ^mhis eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of ⁿburnished bronze, and the sound of his words ^olike the sound of a multitude. 7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. 8 So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. ^pMy radiant appearance was fearfully changed,² and I retained no strength. 9 Then I heard the sound of his words, and ^qas I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.

10 And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 And he said to me, “O Daniel, man ^rgreatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and ^sstand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. 12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. 13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but ^tMichael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, 14 and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. ^uFor the vision is for days yet to come.”

15 When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and was mute. 16 And behold, ^vone in the likeness of the children of man ^wtouched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, “O my lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength. 17 How can my lord’s servant talk with my lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.”

18 Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. 19 And he said, “O man greatly loved, fear not, ^xpeace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” 20 Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of ^yGreece will come. 21 But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of ^ztruth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.

The Kings of the South and the North

11 “And as for me, in the first year of ^aDarius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.

2 “And now I will show you the ^btruth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in ^cPersia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. 3 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and ^ddo as he wills. 4 And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and ^edivided toward the ^ffour winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.

5 “Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. 6 After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported¹ her in those times.

7 “And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail. 8 He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. 9 Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land.

10 “His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress. 11 Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. 12 And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. 13 For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the first. And after some years² he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies.

14 “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail. 15 Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. 16 But he who comes against him shall ^gdo as he wills, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the ^hglorious land, with destruction in his hand. 17 He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom,³ but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. 18 Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed,⁴ he shall turn his insolence back upon him. 19 Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found.

20 “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. 21 In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. 23 And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. 24 Without warning he shall come into the richest parts⁵ of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. 25 And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. 26 Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. 27 And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the ⁱend is yet to be at the time appointed. 28 And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land.

29 “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. 30 For ships of ^jKittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the ^kregular burnt offering. And they shall set up the ^labomination that makes desolate. 32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who ^mknow their God shall stand firm and take action. 33 And the ⁿwise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be ^orefined, purified, and ^pmade white, until the ^qtime of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.

36 “And the king shall ^rdo as he wills. ^sHe shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall ^tspeak astonishing things against the ^uGod of gods. He shall ^vprosper till the ^windignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done. 37 He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price.⁶

40 “At the ^xtime of the end, the king of the south shall attack⁷ him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come into the ^yglorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: ^zEdom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. 44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. 45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious ^aholy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.

The Time of the End

12 “At that time shall arise ^bMichael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, ^csuch as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, ^deveryone whose name shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of ^ethose who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, ^fsome to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And ^gthose who are wise ^hshall shine like the brightness of the sky above;¹ and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and ⁱseal the book, until the ^jtime of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. 6 And someone said to the ^kman clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream,^{2 l}“How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; ^mhe raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be ⁿfor a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. 8 I heard, but ^oI did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall 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 shall ^ppurify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but ^qthe wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. 11 And from the time that the ^rregular burnt offering is taken away and the ^sabomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. 13 But go your way till the end. And you shall ^trest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”

Hosea

1 The word of the Lord that came to ^aHosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of ^bUzziah, ^cJotham, ^dAhaz, and ^eHezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of ^fJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Hosea’s Wife and Children

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ^g“Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great ^hwhoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name ⁱJezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the ^jblood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy,¹ for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. ^kI will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People,² for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”³

10 ^{4 l}Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be ^mlike the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. ⁿAnd in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, ^o“Children⁵ of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered ^ptogether, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished

2 ¹ Say to your brothers, “You are my people,”² and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”³

The Lord’s Mercy on Israel

16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ^e‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the ^fnames of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And ^gI will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will ^habolish⁶ the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall ⁱknow the Lord.