Daniel 11:36-45

36 "Then the king will do {as he pleases}, and he will exalt himself and will consider himself above any god, and he will speak horrendous things {against} [the] God of gods, yet he will succeed until [the period] of anger is finished, for [what] is determined will be done.

37 He will not pay respect to the gods of his ancestors, or to [the] darling of women, and not to any god will he pay respect, for he will consider himself great over all [gods].

38 But {instead} he will honor the god of fortresses, a god whom his ancestors did not know. He will honor [him] with gold, and with silver, and with precious stones and with costly gifts.

39 And he will deal with [the] {fortified strongholds} with [the help of] {a foreign god}; and he will increase wealth for whoever will acknowledge [him], and he will cause them to rule over the many, and he will distribute land for a price.

40 "And at [the] time of [the] end the king of the south will attack him, and the king of the north will storm against him with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships, and he will advance against the countries and {he will sweep through like a flood}.

41 And he will come {into the beautiful land} and many will fall victim, but these will escape from his power: Edom and Moab and the best part of the {Ammonites}.

42 And he will stretch out his hand against countries and the land of Egypt {will not escape}.

43 And he will rule over the treasures of gold and the silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and [the] Libyans and [the] Cushites [will follow] in his footsteps.

44 But reports will terrify him from [the] east and from [the] north, and he will go out with great fury to destroy and [to] exterminate many.

45 And [then] he will pitch the tents of his palace between [the] sea [and] {the beautiful holy mountain}, and he will come to his end, and there is no one helping him."

Daniel 11:36-45 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 11

In this chapter the angel makes good his promise to Daniel, that he would show him what was written in the Scripture of truth, concerning the monarchies of the earth, and what would befall his people the Jews in the latter days; and after he had observed that he had strengthened and confirmed Darius the Mede, who was the first king of the then present flourishing monarchy, Da 11:1, he foretells the number of the kings of Persia, and particularly describes the fourth, Da 11:2 predicts the rise of the Grecian monarchy under Alexander the great, and the disposition of it after his death, Da 11:3,4 and then proceeds to give an account of the two principal kingdoms of that monarchy, into which it was divided, the Seleucidae and Lagidae; and of their kings, the king of Egypt, and the king of Syria, under the names of the king of the south, and the king of the north, and of their power and agreement, Da 11:5,6 and then of their various wars between themselves and others, and the success of them, Da 11:7-20, and particularly of Antiochus, his character and manner of coming to the kingdom, and of his wars with the king of Egypt, and the issue of them, Da 11:21-29 and of his persecution of the Jews, and the distress he should bring on them, and the use it should be of to the godly among them, Da 11:30-35, and then his antitype, antichrist, is described; the western antichrist, his character and actions, Da 11:36-39 then the eastern, his power, wealth and riches, hail and rain, Da 11:40-45.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "as his pleasure"
• [b]. Literally "over"
• [c]. Or "fathers"
• [d]. Literally "in his place"
• [e]. Or "fathers"
• [f]. Hebrew "precious stone"
• [g]. Literally "the fortifications of strongholds"
• [h]. Literally "[the] god of a foreign land"
• [i]. Or "appoint"
• [j]. Hebrew "chariot"
• [k]. Literally "and he will overflow [them] and he will pass through"
• [l]. Literally "into the land of the beauty"
• [m]. A difficult word to translate in this context: possibly it means "the foremost" (NASB), or it may mean "the remnant" (NEB)
• [n]. Literally "sons/children of Ammon"
• [o]. Literally "not it will be to escape"
• [p]. Literally "[the] mountain of the beauty holiness"
• [q]. Or "not one"