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Daniel 11:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Daniel 11:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 11
1 “As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I came forth to support and strengthen him.
Early Struggles between Seleucids and Ptolemies.[a] 2 “Now I shall tell you the truth about these things. Three more kings shall arise in Persia. Then a fourth will appear who will be far richer than all of them, and when he has enhanced his power through his wealth, he will mobilize the entire empire against the kingdom of Greece.[b]
3 “Then a powerful king[c] shall arise who will govern a vast empire and do whatever he pleases.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Daniel 11:2 A clear passage gives the succession of kings from Cyrus to Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The historian can easily construct a detailed account. The author’s interest is mainly in the struggle, now overt, now covert, between the Lagids of Egypt, in the south, and the Seleucids of Syria, in the north, both of them being heirs to Alexander’s empire. Due to his excesses, Antiochus IV Epiphanes would come to be regarded as the Antichrist who opposes the reign of God.
- Daniel 11:2 The three successors of Cyrus II (558–530 B.C.) were, in order: Cambyses (530–522 B.C.), Darius I (521–486 B.C.), and Xerxes I (485–465 B.C.). It was under Xerxes that the battles of Salamis and Thermopylae took place during the war against Greece. The greatest political and economic pressure, however, was exerted by Artaxerxes I (465–424 B.C.), who roused himself to hurl all the might of Persia against Greece; other kings would later continue to war against the Greeks.
- Daniel 11:3 A powerful king: Alexander the Great.
