He will also take their gods into captivity to Egypt, along with their cast images and prized utensils of silver and gold. Then he will withdraw for some years from ¹  the king of the north.

Then Daniel spoke to ¹  the king, “O king, live forever!

While I was watching, that horn began to wage war against the holy ones and was defeating ¹  them,

These who are wise among the people will teach the masses. ¹  However, they will fall ²  by the sword and by the flame, ³  and they will be imprisoned and plundered for some time. ⁴ 

And ¹  in that you saw iron mixed with wet clay, so people will be mixed ²  with one another ³  without adhering to one another, just as ⁴  iron does not mix with clay.

Then compare our appearance ¹  with that of ²  the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; ³  deal with us ⁴  in light of what you see.”

He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he ¹  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

“How great are his signs! How mighty are his wonders! His kingdom will last forever, ¹  and his authority continues from one generation to the next.”

Daniel explained: ¹  “I was watching in my vision during the night as ²  the four winds of the sky ³  were stirring up the great sea. ⁴ 

I was watching in the night visions, “And with ¹  the clouds of the sky ²  one like a son of man ³  was approaching. He went up to the Ancient of Days and was escorted ⁴  before him.

We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority ¹  to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, ²  and to all the inhabitants ³  of the land as well.

He said, “Do you know why I have come to you? ¹  Now I am about to return to engage in battle with the prince of Persia. When I go, the prince of Greece is coming.

“Then the king of the south ¹  will be enraged and will march out to fight against the king of the north, who will also muster a large army, but that army will be delivered into his hand.

He will attack ¹  mighty fortresses, aided by ²  a foreign deity. To those who recognize him he will grant considerable honor. He will place them in authority over many people, and he will parcel out land for a price. ³ 

What the king is asking is too difficult, and no one exists who can disclose it to the king, except for the gods – but they don’t live among mortals!” ¹ 

But at the end of the appointed time ¹  I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up ²  toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me. I extolled the Most High, and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever. For his authority is an everlasting authority, and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next.

Now after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. ¹  As for the city and the sanctuary, the people of the coming prince will destroy ²  them. But his end will come speedily ³  like a flood. ⁴  Until the end of the war that has been decreed there will be destruction.

How, sir, am I able to speak with you? ¹  My strength is gone, ²  and I am breathless.”

Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was over the waters of the river as he raised both his right and left hands to the sky ¹  and made an oath by the one who lives forever: “It is for a time, times, and half a time. Then, when the power of the one who shatters ²  the holy people has been exhausted, all these things will be finished.”

I hereby decree ¹  that any people, nation, or language group that blasphemes ²  the god of Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego will be dismembered and his home reduced to rubble! For there exists no other god who can deliver in this way.”