The Living Bible (278 page)

Daniel
9

It was now the first year of the reign of King Darius, the son of Ahasuerus. (Darius was a Mede but became king of the Chaldeans.)
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 In that first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from the book of Jeremiah the prophet that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.
*
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 So I earnestly pleaded with the Lord God to end our captivity and send us back to our own land.
*

    
As I prayed, I fasted and wore rough sackcloth, and I sprinkled myself with ashes
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 and confessed my sins and those of my people.

    
“O Lord,” I prayed, “you are a great and awesome God; you always fulfill your promises of mercy to those who love you and keep your laws.
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 But we have sinned so much; we have rebelled against you and scorned your commands.
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 We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, whom you sent again and again down through the years, with your messages to our kings and princes and to all the people.

    
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 “O Lord, you are righteous; but as for us, we are always shamefaced with sin, just as you see us now; yes, all of us—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel, scattered near and far wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you.
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 O Lord, we and our kings and princes and fathers are weighted down with shame because of all our sins.

    
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 “But the Lord our God is merciful and pardons even those who have rebelled against him.

    
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 “O Lord our God, we have disobeyed you; we have flouted all the laws you gave us through your servants, the prophets.
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 All Israel has disobeyed; we have turned away from you and haven’t listened to your voice. And so the awesome curse of God has crushed us—the curse written in the law of Moses your servant.
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 And you have done exactly as you warned us you would do, for never in all history has there been a disaster like what happened at Jerusalem to us and our rulers.
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 Every curse against us written in the law of Moses has come true; all the evils he predicted—all have come. But even so we still refuse to satisfy the Lord our God by turning from our sins and doing right.

    
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 “And so the Lord deliberately crushed us with the calamity he prepared; he is fair in everything he does, but we would not obey.
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 O Lord our God, you brought lasting honor to your name by removing your people from Egypt in a great display of power. Lord, do it again! Though we have sinned so much and are full of wickedness,
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 yet because of all your faithful mercies, Lord, please turn away your furious anger from Jerusalem, your own city, your holy mountain. For the heathen mock at you because your city lies in ruins for our sins.

    
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 “O our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead! Let your face shine again with peace and joy upon your desolate sanctuary—for your own glory, Lord.

    
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 “O my God, bend down your ear and listen to my plea. Open your eyes and see our wretchedness, how your city lies in ruins—for everyone knows that it is yours. We don’t ask because we merit help, but because you are so merciful despite our grievous sins.

    
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 “O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen to me and act! Don’t delay—for your own sake, O my God, because your people and your city bear your name.”

    
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 Even while I was praying and confessing my sin and the sins of my people, desperately pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain,
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 Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, flew swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice
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 and said to me, “Daniel, I am here to help you understand God’s plans.
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 The moment you began praying a command was given. I am here to tell you what it was, for God loves you very much. Listen and try to understand the meaning of the vision that you saw!

    
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 “The Lord has commanded 490 years
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of further punishment upon Jerusalem and your people. Then at last they will learn to stay away from sin, and their guilt will be cleansed; then the kingdom of everlasting righteousness will begin, and the Most Holy Place in the Temple will be rededicated, as the prophets have declared.
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 Now listen! It will be 49 years plus 434 years
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from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One comes! Jerusalem’s streets and walls will be rebuilt despite the perilous times.

    
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 “After this period of 434 years, the Anointed One will be killed, his kingdom still unrealized . . . and a king will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. They will be overwhelmed as with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.
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 This king will make a seven-year treaty with the people, but after half that time, he will break his pledge and stop the Jews from all their sacrifices and their offerings; then, as a climax to all his terrible deeds, the Enemy shall utterly defile the sanctuary of God. But in God’s time and plan, his judgment will be poured out upon this Evil One.”

Daniel
10

In the third year of the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia, Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) had another vision. It concerned events certain to happen in the future: times of great tribulation—wars and sorrows, and this time he understood what the vision meant.

    
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 When this vision came to me (Daniel said later), I had been in mourning for three full weeks.
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 All that time I tasted neither wine nor meat, and, of course, I went without desserts. I neither washed nor shaved nor combed my hair.

    
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 Then one day early in April, as I was standing beside the great Tigris River,
^5-6
 I looked up, and suddenly there before me stood a person robed in linen garments, with a belt of purest gold around his waist and glowing, lustrous skin! From his face came blinding flashes like lightning, and his eyes were pools of fire; his arms and feet shone like polished brass, and his voice was like the roaring of a vast multitude of people.

    
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 I, Daniel, alone saw this great vision; the men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly filled with unreasoning terror and ran to hide,
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 so I was left alone. When I saw this frightening vision, my strength left me, and I grew pale and weak with fright.

    
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 Then he spoke to me, and I fell to the ground face downward in a deep faint.
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 But a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees.
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 And I heard his voice—“O Daniel, greatly beloved of God,” he said, “stand up and listen carefully to what I have to say to you, for God has sent me to you.” So I stood up, still trembling with fear.

    
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 Then he said, “Don’t be frightened, Daniel, for your request has been heard in heaven and was answered the very first day you began to fast before the Lord and pray for understanding; that very day I was sent here to meet you.
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 But for twenty-one days the mighty Evil Spirit
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who overrules the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the top officers of the heavenly army, came to help me, so that I was able to break through these spirit rulers of Persia.
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 Now I am here to tell you what will happen to your people, the Jews, at the end times—for the fulfillment of this prophecy is many years away.”

    
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 All this time I was looking down, unable to speak a word.
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 Then someone—he looked like a man—touched my lips and I could talk again, and I said to the messenger from heaven, “Sir, I am terrified by your appearance and have no strength.
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 How can such a person as I even talk to you? For my strength is gone, and I can hardly breathe.”

    
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 Then the one who seemed to be a man touched me again, and I felt my strength returning.
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 “God loves you very much,” he said; “don’t be afraid! Calm yourself; be strong—yes, strong!”

    
Suddenly, as he spoke these words, I felt stronger and said to him, “Now you can go ahead and speak, sir, for you have strengthened me.”

    
^20-21
 He replied, “Do you know why I have come? I am here to tell you what is written in the ‘Book of the Future.’ Then, when I leave, I will go again to fight my way back, past the prince of Persia; and after him, the prince of Greece. Only Michael, the angel who guards your people Israel,
*
will be there to help me.

Daniel
11

“I was the one sent to strengthen and help Darius the Mede in the first year of his reign.
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 But now I will show you what the future holds. Three more Persian kings will reign, to be succeeded by a fourth,
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far richer than the others. Using his wealth for political advantage, he will plan total war against Greece.

    
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 “Then a mighty king will rise in Greece, a king who will rule a vast kingdom and accomplish everything he sets out to do.
*
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 But at the zenith of his power, his kingdom will break apart and be divided into four weaker nations, not even ruled by his sons. For his empire will be torn apart and given to others.
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 One of them, the king of Egypt,
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will increase in power, but this king’s own officials will rebel against him and take away his kingdom and make it still more powerful.

    
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 “Several years later an alliance will be formed between the king of Syria
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and the king of Egypt. The daughter of the king of Egypt will be given in marriage to the king of Syria as a gesture of peace,
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but she will lose her influence over him, and not only will her hopes be blighted, but those of her father, the king of Egypt, and of her ambassador and child.
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 But when her brother
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takes over as king of Egypt, he will raise an army against the king of Syria and march against him and defeat him.
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 When he returns again to Egypt, he will carry back their idols with him, along with priceless gold and silver dishes; and for many years afterward he will leave the Syrian king alone.

    
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 “Meanwhile, the king of Syria
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will invade Egypt briefly but will soon return again to his own land.
^10-11
 However, the sons of this Syrian king will assemble a mighty army that will overflow across Israel into Egypt, to a fortress there. Then the king of Egypt,
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in great anger, will rally against the vast forces of Syria and defeat them.
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 Filled with pride after this great victory, he will have many thousands of his enemies killed, but his success will be short-lived.

    
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 “A few years later the Syrian king
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will return with a fully equipped army far greater than the one he lost,
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 and other nations will join him in a crusade against Egypt. Insurgents among your own people, the Jews, will join them, thus fulfilling prophecy,
*
but they will not succeed.
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 Then the Syrian king and his allies will come and lay siege to a fortified city of Egypt and capture it, and the proud armies of Egypt will go down to defeat.

    
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 “The Syrian king will march onward unopposed; none will be able to stop him. And he will also enter ‘The Glorious Land’ of Israel and pillage it.
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 This will be his plot for conquering all Egypt: he, too, will form an alliance with the Egyptian king, giving him a daughter in marriage, so that she can work for him from within. But the plan will fail.

    
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 “After this he will turn his attention to the coastal cities and conquer many. But a general will stop him and cause him to retreat in shame.
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 He will turn homeward again but will have trouble on the way and disappear.

    
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 “His successor
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will be remembered as the king who sent a tax collector into Israel, but after a very brief reign, he will die mysteriously, though neither in battle nor in riot.

    
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 “Next to come to power will be an evil man not directly in line for royal succession.
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But during a crisis he will take over the kingdom by flattery and intrigue.
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 Then all opposition will be swept away before him, including a leader of the priests.
*
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 His promises will be worthless. From the first his method will be deceit; with a mere handful of followers, he will become strong.
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 He will enter the richest areas of the land without warning and do something never done before: he will take the property and wealth of the rich and scatter it out among the people. With great success he will besiege and capture powerful strongholds throughout his dominions, but this will last for only a short while.
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 Then he will stir up his courage and raise a great army against Egypt; and Egypt, too, will raise a mighty army, but to no avail, for plots against him will succeed.

    
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 “Those of his own household will bring his downfall; his army will desert, and many will be killed.

    
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 “Both these kings
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will be plotting against each other at the conference table, attempting to deceive each other. But it will make no difference, for neither can succeed until God’s appointed time has come.

    
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 “The Syrian king will then return home with great riches, first marching through Israel and destroying it.
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 Then at the predestined time he will once again turn his armies southward, as he had threatened, but now it will be a very different story from those first two occasions.
^30-31
 For Roman warships
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will scare him off, and he will withdraw and return home. Angered by having to retreat, the Syrian king will again pillage Jerusalem and pollute the sanctuary,
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putting a stop to the daily sacrifices, and worshiping idols inside the Temple.
*
He will leave godless Jews in power when he leaves—men who have abandoned their fathers’ faith.
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 He will flatter those who hate the things of God
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and win them over to his side. But the people who know their God
*
shall be strong and do great things.

    
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 “Those with spiritual understanding will have a wide ministry of teaching in those days. But they will be in constant danger, many of them dying by fire and sword, or being jailed and robbed.
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 Eventually these pressures will subside, and some ungodly men will come, pretending to offer a helping hand, only to take advantage of them.

    
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 “And some who are most gifted in the things of God will stumble in those days and fall, but this will only refine and cleanse them and make them pure until the final end of all their trials, at God’s appointed time.

    
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 “The king will do exactly as he pleases, claiming to be greater than every god there is, even blaspheming the God of gods, and prospering—until his time is up. For God’s plans are unshakable.
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 He will have no regard for the gods of his fathers, nor for the god beloved of women,
*
nor any other god, for he will boast that he is greater than them all.
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 Instead of these, he will worship the Fortress god
*
—a god his fathers never knew—and lavish on him costly gifts!
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 Claiming this god’s help, he will have great success against the strongest fortresses. He will honor those who submit to him, appointing them to positions of authority and dividing the land to them as their reward.

    
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 “Then at the time of the end,
*
the king of the south will attack him again, and the northern king will react with the strength and fury of a whirlwind; his vast army and navy will rush out to bury him with their might.
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 He will invade various lands on the way, including Israel, the Pleasant Land, and overthrow the governments of many nations. Moab, Edom, and most of Ammon will escape,
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 but Egypt and many other lands will be occupied.
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 He will capture all the treasures of Egypt, and the Libyans and Ethiopians shall be his servants.

    
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 “But then news from the east and north will alarm him, and he will return in great anger to destroy as he goes.
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 He will halt between Jerusalem and the sea and there pitch his royal tents, but while he is there his time will suddenly run out, and there will be no one to help him.