The Babylonian Exile

nevertheless, I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. There is no one standing with me against them except Mikha'el your prince;

however, I was already standing up to support and help Daryavesh the Mede in the first year of his reign.

What I am going to tell you now is true. "Three kings will arise in Persia, followed by a fourth, who will be far wealthier than all of them; and when he has grown strong by means of his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.

"Then a powerful king will appear who will rule a vast kingdom and do whatever he pleases.

But once he appears, his kingdom will be broken up and divided to the four winds of heaven. It won't be inherited by his descendants, and it won't be ruled with the power he had, because his kingship will be uprooted and will pass to others than his own posterity.

"The king in the south will be strong, and one of his princes will gain power over him and have dominion; his domain will be a great dominion.

After a number of years they will form an alliance. The daughter of the king of the south will approach the king of the north to make an agreement, but she won't retain her power; and he and his power won't last either. Rather, she will be surrendered, along with her attendants, her father and the one who supported her during those times.

But another branch from the same roots as hers will appear in her father's place. He will attack the army of the king of the north, enter his fortress and succeed in conquering them.

He will also carry off as booty to Egypt their gods, their cast metal images and their valuable gold and silver vessels. Then for some years, he will refrain from attacking the king of the north.

"Afterwards, the king of the north will invade the kingdom of the king of the south, but he will retire to his own land.

His sons will rouse themselves to muster a large and powerful army, which will advance like a flood passing through. In another campaign, it will march on the enemy stronghold.

The king of the south, enraged, will set out to do battle with the king of the north, who, in turn, will muster a large army; but this army will be defeated by his enemy

and carried off. The conqueror will grow proud as he slaughters tens of thousands, yet he will not prevail.

Rather, the king of the north will again muster an army, larger than the first one, at the end of this period, after a number of years; it will be a large, well-supplied army.

Those will be times in which many will resist the king of the south; and the more violent ones among your own people will rebel in order to fulfill their vision; but they will fail.

"Then the king of the north will come, set up siege-works and capture a fortified city; the forces of the south will be insufficient defense, even his elite troops will not be strong enough to resist.

The invader will do as he pleases; no one will be able to withstand him. So he will establish himself in the Land of Glory, and he will have the power to destroy it.

He will determinedly advance with the full force of his kingdom, but he will make an agreement with the king of the south and give him a daughter in marriage. His object will be to destroy him, but the agreement will not last or work out in his favor.

Next, he will put his attention on the coastlands and islands and capture many, but an army commander will put a stop to his outrages and cause his outrages to come back upon him.

After this, he will put his attention on the strongholds in his own land; but he will stumble, fall and not be seen again.

"In his place will arise one who will send a tax collector through the Glorious Kingdom; but within a few days, he will be broken, though neither in anger nor in battle.

"There will arise in his place a despicable man not entitled to inherit the majesty of the kingdom, but he will come without warning and gain the kingdom by intrigue.

Large armies will be broken and swept away before him, as well as the prince of the covenant.

Alliances will be made with him, but he will undermine them by deceit. Then, although he will have but a small following, he will emerge and become strong.

Without warning, he will assail the most powerful men in each province and do things his predecessors never did, either recently or in the distant past; he will reward them with plunder, spoil and wealth while devising plots against their strongholds, but only for a time.