the judgments, which are determined unto it, be fully consummated, and poured out upon that miserable city. X. 4 As I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel; I was, in vision, by the side of the great river Tigris; X. 5 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: And, behold, the Son of God stood before me, in the form of a man clothed in pure white linen, to signify his perfect holiness; and his loins were girt about with a girdle of the finest gold: X. 6 His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. His body was of a bright celestial colour; and his face glorious and shining, like the appearance of lightning: his eyes, from which nothing can be hid, were beamy and piercing, like flames of fire: his arms and feet were resplendent, like to polished brass; to signify the pureness and unquestionable perfection of his proceedings: and the voice of his words was mighty and forcible. X. 9 Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. And when I heard the dreadful voice of his words, I was cast, as it were, into an ecstasy, with my face grovelling to the ground; being, for the time, bereft of the use of my senses, through astonishment. X. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. But that angel, which hath the guardianship of the kingdom of Persia, pleaded earnestly with me, for these one and twenty days, in a desire to retain thy people somewhat longer; but, lo, Michael, one of the chief of angels, who standeth out in favour of thy nation, came to advance and to set forward the execution of my will, concerning my Church; but I decreed, for holy and just causes, to withhold my appearance from thee, for a time, upon the occasion of the affairs of the king of Persia. I am induced to interpret this Prince of the Kingdom of Persia, to be an Angel; because, in the same verse, and verse 21, Michael is termed the Prince of Israel; and one Prince of these Spiritual Governments is brought in, pleading against another; neither is it probable, that Christ is here meant by Michael, since it is he, who, in this glorious appearance, speaketh to Daniel concerning Michael. X. 20 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. Knowest thou wherefore I came unto thee? even lest thou shouldst think thyself neglected by my absence or delay; and now, I will return to plead with the angel of Persia for your remove; and when I, together with my people, am gone forth thence, the angel, that is for Greece, shall come and prevail mightily against the Persian kingdom. X. 21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince. But I will shew thee the particularities of these passages, which are enrolled in the counsel of God's everlasting decree; wherein, I will let thee know, that neither the Persian nor the Grecian Monarchy shall long subsist: but ye, my Jewish people, shall not be cut off, notwithstanding the great malice of your enemies; neither shall ye need to fear, for Michael, your Prince and Spiritual Guardian, is ready at hand, to attend your safety, and to yield his service to me in your protection. XI. 1 Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. Also, I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, though insensibly to men, stood out for the confirmation of that monarchy of his. XI. 2 And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. And now I will shew thee the true event of future things. Behold, there shall stand up three kings successively in Persia, after this Darius, who shall yield up his kingdom to his partner and successor, namely, Cyrus Cambyses's son and Darius Hystaspes: and the fourth, which shall be Xerxes the son of that latter Darius, shall be far richer than they all, both through the treasures left by his father, and his own exactions; and, in the pride and confidence of his strength and great riches, he shall stir up all those of the east to war against Grecia. XI. 3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. But a mighty king, even Alexander of Macedon, shall stand out against him, and shall overthrow the Persians; and shall rule very powerfully, and with great freedom and absoluteness. XI. 4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those. And when he shall have thus overcome, and continued his monarchy for seven years, his kingdom shall be broken in pieces; and shall be divided amongst his four peers, towards all the four. coasts of heaven: divided, I say, not to his posterity, for the two sons of Alexander the Great, namely Alexander and Hercules, shall shortly after die without issue, but to four of his chief com manders: Seleucus shall have Babylon; Cassander, Macedonia; Antigonus, Asia; and Ptolemy, Egypt; but these kings shall not be able to carry that sway and greatness in this subdivision of their state, which that great monarch bore before them, for his kingdom shall be plucked up, and parcelled out to others beside them of his own loins. XI. 5 And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion. Now I shall tell thee what shall befal, after this division, in the intercourse of the affairs betwixt two of these great sharers of the monarchy: the king of Egypt, who is the king of the south, shall be strong and mighty; and one other of the posterity of one of those princes, even of Seleucus Nicanor, shall be stronger than he, &c. XI. 6 And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times. And, after some years, these two princes, the one being the king of Egypt or of the South, the other the king of Syria or of the North, shall join in a league together; for the king of Egypt's daughter, viz. Berenice the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus, shall match in marriage with Antiochus Theos the king of Syria: but she shall not be able to maintain and continue, either her marriage, or the league betwixt those kings; neither shall the said Antiochus hold firm to his engagements, but the said Berenice shall be forsaken and given up by Antiochus, who shall receive again his former wife Laodice, lately cast off, to make way to that other wedlock with Berenice; and, afterwards, upon war hereupon raised betwixt Ptolemy Euergetes the brother of Berenice and Antiochus king of Syria, she shall, together with her son and all her retinue, fall into the hands of Seleucus Callinicus the son of her rival Laodice, and by him be miserably slain. XI. 7 But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the for tress of the king of the north, &c. But out of the same stock whence she came, shall one stand up, in revenge of her death, even her brother Ptolemy Euergetes, which shall come with an army, and enter into the fortress of the king of Syria, &c. XI. 9 So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land. So, when these things are thus dispatched in Syria, the king of Egypt shall come back, and return into his own land. XI. 10 But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one shall certainly come, and over. flow, and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress. But the sons of Seleucus Callinicus, king of Syria, (which were Seleucus, Ceraunus, and Antiochus the Great,) not digesting this defeat and slaughter, shall raise a new war against the king of Egypt; and, gathering great forces together, shall come powerfully up to invade and recover those parts of Syria, whence they were driven; and one of them shall so far prevail by his strong incursions, that he shall pass through Syria and Judea, and, having rescued them, shall return to his own fortres XI. 11 And the king of the south shall be moved risaler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with t the north and he shall set forth a great multitude; but titude shall be given into his hand. Sof raul And the king of Egypt, Ptolemy Philopater, being herewith exceedingly moved to rage and desire of revenge, shall come forth the third time, and fight with the king of Syria, viz. Antiochus the Great, and shall bring a great and mighty army against him; the issue whereof shall be, that the forces of Antiochus shall be delivered into the hands of Philopater the king of Egypt, and Syria, by this means, again recovered from him. XI. 12 And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands : but he shall not be strengthened by it. And when he bath had this great victory, the heart of the king of Egypt shall be lifted up with pride; and he shall fall to a cruel persecution of God's people, whereof he shall slay many thousands: but all this weakening of his pretended enemies, shall be no strengthening of his power. XI. 13 For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. For the king of Syria, Antiochus the Great, shall yet again come upon the Egyptian, with greater forces than the former; and shall set upon him more strongly and fiercely than before. XI. 14 And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall. And in those days many of the neighbour nations shall take part against the king of Egypt: also many of thy people shall turn apostates, following Onias; and, to fulfil that prophecy of Isaiah (That the altar of the Lord shall be in Egypt,) shall build a temple at Heliopolis; but they shall fail of their hopes, and utterly miscarry. XI. 15 So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. So Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, shall come, and besiege the strongest cities and forts of Egypt, and shall take them; aud the forces of Egypt shall not be able to stand against him. XI, 16 But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. But the said Antiochus, coming against the Egyptian, shall do what he pleases, and none shall so much as resist him; and, when he hath subdued that land, he shall also seize upon Judea, that glorious land of God's chosen people, and shall lay it waste, by his powerful army. XI. 17 He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her: but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. And he, the said Antiochus, shall address himself and the whole power of his kingdom, and that not without fair and plausible conditions, to get the full and peaceable possession of Egypt; for which cause, he shall give his daughter Cleopatra, to wife, unto Ptolemy Epiphanes; treating with her, by corrupt counsel, to destroy her husband: but she shall not be miscarried by that wicked counsel of her father, but shall rather favour and adhere to her husband. XI. 18 After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach, he shall cause it to turn upon him. After this shall Antiochus, king of Syria, set upon more remote nations, and shall take many of them: but the Roman Governor shall soon repress him, and take away the reproach cast upon that state by those his victories; and shall return the reproach of a foil upon him, in forcing him to dishonourable conditions, of disclaiming any right in or challenge to Europe, for ever after. XI. 19 Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall. Then shall he be glad to retire himself to his own forts in Syria: but even there, he shall miserably miscarry; for, while he shall go about a sacrilegious pillage of his idol temple by night, the inhabitants shall fall, in great indignation, upon him and his soldiers, and kill them in the place. XI. 20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. After him, there shall succeed, in his room, a son of his, Seleucus Philopater, or Soter; who shall be a great exactor upon his subjects, and a spoiler of the sacred treasures of the temple: but, within a few days after this sacrilegious practice, he shall be destroyed by poison, in the hand of Heliodorus, by the subornation of his brother Antiochus Epiphanes, affecting the kingdom after him. XI. 21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And, in his place, shall thereupon succeed a vile and notoriously |