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19 Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land [of Syria], but he shall stumble and fall and not be found.

20 Then shall [a]stand up in his place or office one who shall send an exactor of tribute to pass through the glory of the kingdom, but within a few days he shall be destroyed, [yet] neither in anger nor in battle.

21 And in his place or office [in Syria] shall arise a [b]contemptuous and contemptible person, to whom royal majesty and honor of the kingdom have not been given. But he shall come in without warning in time of security and shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries, intrigues, and cunning hypocritical conduct.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Daniel 11:20 The reference here is undoubtedly to Seleucus Philopator [a king of Syria], the eldest son of Antiochus the Great and his immediate successor (Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament).
  2. Daniel 11:21 This contemptible conqueror is generally identified as Antiochus Epiphanes, the younger son of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, and is a type of the final antichrist referred to in Dan. 11:36; II Thess. 2:3-12; I John 4:3; II John 7; and Rev. 13:5-8. “He [Antiochus Epiphanes] stirred up the Jews by robbing the temple and setting up a statue of Jupiter in the Holy of Holies. He also pulled down the walls of Jerusalem, commanded the sacrifice of [forbidden] swine, forbade circumcision, and destroyed all the sacred books that could be found” (John D. Davis, A Dictionary of the Bible).

19 After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall,(A) to be seen no more.(B)

20 “His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor.(C) In a few years, however, he will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle.

21 “He will be succeeded by a contemptible(D) person who has not been given the honor of royalty.(E) He will invade the kingdom when its people feel secure, and he will seize it through intrigue.

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