Wycliffe's Bible 1Forsooth from the first year of Darius of Media, I stood, that he should be comforted, and made strong. (And from the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, I have stood, so that he would be strengthened, and made strong.)
2And now I shall tell to thee the truth. And lo! three kings shall stand yet in Persia, and the fourth shall be made rich with full many riches over all (of them). And when he hath waxed strong by his riches, he shall raise all men against the realm of Greece (And when he hath grown strong through his riches, he shall raise up all the people against the kingdom of Greece).
3Forsooth a strong king shall rise, and shall be lord in great power, and shall do that, that shall please him(self).
4And when he shall stand, his realm shall be all-broken, and it shall be parted into four winds of heaven, but not into his heirs, neither by the power of him in which he was lord; for his realm shall be rent, yea, into strangers besides these. (And when he shall reign, all his kingdom shall be broken in pieces, and it shall be parted to the four winds of the heavens, but not to his heirs, for his kingdom shall be torn apart for others besides them; yea, for strangers, though no one shall have as great a power as he had, when he was lord and master.) 5And the king of the south shall be comforted; and of the princes of him, one shall have power above him, and he shall be lord in power; for why his lordship shall be much. (And the king of the south shall be strengthened; and of his leaders, one shall get more power than him, and he shall be the lord, or the greater, in power; yea, his lordship shall be very great.) 6And after the end of years they shall be knit in peace; and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north, to make friendship. And she shall not get strength of arm, neither the seed of her shall stand; and she shall be betaken, and the younglings of her that brought her, and he that comforted her in (these) times (But she shall not get the power, nor shall her descendants stand, or long endure; and she, and her children who brought her, and he who strengthened her in these times, shall all be killed). 7And a planting of the seed of the roots of her shall stand; and he shall come with an host (and he shall come with an army), and shall enter into the province of the king of the north, and he shall misuse them, and he shall get (the victory); 8furthermore he shall get both the gods of them, and graven images. And he shall lead into Egypt [the] precious vessels of gold, and of silver, taken in battle. He shall have the mastery against the king of the north; (and furthermore he shall take their false gods, and their carved idols. And he shall also bring back to Egypt the precious vessels of gold, and of silver, taken in battle. He shall have the mastery against the king of the north;) 9and the king of the south shall enter into the realm, and shall turn again to his land. (and the king of the south shall enter into the kingdom, but then he shall retreat, and return to his own land.) 10Forsooth the sons of him shall be stirred to wrath, and they shall gather together a multitude of full many coasts. And he shall come hasting and flowing, and he shall turn again, and shall be stirred, and shall begin battle with his strong hold. (But his sons shall be stirred to anger, and they shall gather together the multitude of a great many armies. And one of them shall come hastily and flowing, and he shall return, and shall be stirred, and shall begin battle with his enemy’s stronghold.) 11And the king of the south shall be stirred [to wrath], and shall go out, and shall fight against the king of the north, and shall make ready a full great multitude; and the multitude shall be given in(to) his hand. 12And he shall take the multitude, and his heart shall be enhanced (and his heart shall be lifted up, or exalted); and he shall cast down many thousands, but he shall not have the mastery. 13For the king of the north shall turn (again), and shall make ready a multitude, much more than before; and in the end of times and of years he shall come hasting with a full great host, and with full many riches. 14And in those times many men shall rise together against the king of the south; and the sons of trespassers of thy people shall be enhanced, that they [ful]fill the vision, and they shall fall down. (And at that time many men shall rise together against the king of the south; and the sons of the trespassers of thy people shall exalt themselves, so that they fulfill the vision, but they shall all fall down.) 15And the king of the north shall come, and shall bear together [heaps of] earth, and he shall take (the) strongest cities; and the arms of the south shall not sustain (and the armies, or the powers, of the south shall not be able to sustain them). And the chosen men thereof shall rise together, to against-stand, and (their) strength shall not be (enough). 16And he shall come [up]on him, and shall do by his will; and none shall be that shall stand against his face. And he shall stand in the noble land, and it shall be wasted in his hand. (And he shall come against him, and shall do by his own will; and there shall be no one who shall stand against him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, that is, in the Promised Land, and it shall come wholly under his power.) 17And he shall set his face, that he come to hold all the realm of him, and he shall do rightful things with him. And he shall give to him the daughter of women, to destroy him; and it shall not stand, and it shall not be his (but she shall not stand by his side, and she shall not be his). 18And he shall turn his face to (the) isles, and shall take many isles. And he shall make cease the prince of his shame, and his shame shall turn (again) into him (And he shall make the reproof of their leader to cease, and his reproof shall return upon him). 19And he shall turn his face to the lordship of his land, and he shall stumble, and fall down, and he shall not be found. 20And the vilest and (most) unworthy to the king’s honour shall stand in the place of him, and in few days he shall be all-broken, not in strong vengeance, neither in battle (but not openly, nor in battle). 21And a despised man shall stand in the place of him, and the honour of a king shall not be given to him; and he shall come privily, and he shall get the realm by guile (but he shall come privately, or furtively, and he shall get the kingdom by deceit, or by trickery). 22And the arms of the fighter shall be overcome of his face, and shall be all-broken, furthermore and the duke of (the) bond of peace. (And the armies of the fighters shall be overcome before him, and furthermore even the Prince of the Covenant shall be broken.) 23And after friendship with him, he shall do guile. And he shall ascend, and shall overcome with little people; (And after friendship with him, then he shall do treachery, or deception. And he shall ascend, and shall overcome with only a few people;) 24and he shall enter into great and rich cities, and he shall do things which his fathers, and the fathers of his fathers, did not. He shall destroy the ravens, and prey, and riches of them, and against most steadfast thoughts he shall take counsel, and this till to a time (He shall divide the spoils, and the prey, and their riches, and he shall make plans against strongholds, but only for a time). 25And the strength of him, and the heart of him shall be stirred against the king of the south with a great host. And the king of the south shall be stirred to battle with many helps and full strong; and they shall not stand, for they shall take counsels against him. (And his strength, and his heart, shall be stirred to fight against the king of the south with his great army. And the king of the south shall be stirred to battle against him, with many strong men to help him; but they shall not stand, for they shall make traitorous plans against him.) 26And they that eat bread with him shall all-break him; and his host shall be oppressed, and full many men of his shall be slain, and fall down. (Yea, they who eat bread with him shall destroy him; and his army shall be destroyed, and a great many men of his shall be killed, and shall fall down.) 27And the heart of (the) two kings shall be, that they do evil, and at one board they shall speak leasing, and they shall not profit (and at one table, they shall speak lies to each other, but no one shall profit from it); for yet the end shall be into another time. 28And he shall turn again into his land with many riches, and his heart shall be against the holy testament, and he shall do, and shall turn again into his land. (And he shall return to his own land with many riches, and his heart shall be against the Holy Covenant, yea, he shall do as he pleaseth, and then shall return to his own land.) 29In time ordained he shall turn again (And at the time ordained he shall return), and shall come (back) to the south, and the last shall not be like the former. 30And ships with three orders of oars, and Romans, shall come [up]on him, and he shall be smitten. And he shall turn again, and shall have indignation against the testament of the saintuary, and he shall do. And he shall turn again, and he shall think against them that forsook the testament of the saintuary. (And Romans in ships with three orders of oars shall come against him, and he shall be struck. And so he shall turn back, and shall have indignation against the Holy Covenant, yea, so shall he do. And he shall turn back, and he shall plot with those who have deserted the Holy Covenant.) 31And [the] arms of him shall stand, and shall defoul the saintuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice, and shall give (the) abomination into desolation. (And his army shall stand there, and shall defile both the sanctuary, and the stronghold, or the fortress, and shall stop the continual, or the daily, sacrifice, and shall set up the abomination that maketh desolation.) 32And wicked men shall feign (the) testament guilefully; but the people that knoweth their God shall hold, and do. (And by deceit, or by trickery, he shall get the wicked who have deserted the Holy Covenant to join him; but the people who knoweth their God shall hold fast, or shall hold firm, and do battle.) 33And taught men in the people shall teach full many men, and shall fall in sword, and in flame, and into captivity, and into raven of days. (And those who be learned among the people shall teach a great many, but they shall fall by the sword, and in flame, and into captivity, and into the spoils of days.) 34And when they have fallen down, they shall be raised [up] by a little help; and full many men shall be applied to them guilefully. (But when they have fallen down, they shall be raised up with a little help; and a great many shall deceitfully, or insincerely, join them.) 35And (some) of (the) learned men shall fall, that they be welled together, and be chosen, and be made white till to a time determined; for yet another time shall be. 36And the king shall do by his will, and he shall be raised [up], and magnified against each god, and against God of gods he shall speak great things; and he shall be directed, till wrathfulness be [ful]filled. For the determining is perfectly made. (And the king shall do by his own will, and he shall be raised up, and magnified against every god, and he shall say terrible things against the God of gods/and he shall say that he is even greater than the God of gods; and he shall prosper, until the wrathfulness be fulfilled. For what is determined shall be done.) 37And he shall not areckon (with) the God of his fathers, and he shall be in the covetousness of women, and he shall not charge any of gods, for he shall rise against all things. (And he shall not have regard for the god of his fathers, or the god beloved by women, indeed he shall not have regard for any god, for he shall raise himself up, or shall exalt himself, above all of them.) 38Forsooth he shall honour (the) god of Maoozim in his place, and he shall worship (a) god, whom his fathers knew not, with gold, and silver, and precious stone(s), and precious things. (Instead he shall honour the god of strongholds in his place, and he shall worship a god, whom his forefathers did not know, with gold, and silver, and precious stones, and precious things.) 39And he shall do that he make strong Maoozim, with the alien god which he knew (And he shall strengthen his strongholds with foreigners, who worship a strange, or a foreign, god). And he shall multiply glory, and shall give power to them in many things; and shall part the land at his will. 40And in the time determined the king of the south shall fight against him, and the king of the north shall come as a tempest against him, in chariots, and with knights, and in great navy. And he shall enter into lands, and shall defoul them; and he shall pass forth, (And at the time determined the king of the south shall fight against him, and the king of the north shall come like a tempest against him, with chariots, and soldiers, and with a great navy. And he shall enter into lands, and shall defile them, or shall trample them down; and then he shall pass forth,) 41and shall enter into the glorious land, and many shall fall. Forsooth these lands alone shall be saved from his hand, Edom, and Moab, and [the] princes of the sons of Ammon. (and shall enter into the Promised Land, and many shall fall. But these lands alone shall be saved from his hand, yea, Edom, and Moab, and the remnant of the Ammonites.) 42And he shall send his hand into lands, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. (And he shall reach his hand into land after land, and even the land of Egypt shall not escape his assault.) 43And he shall be lord of treasures of gold, and of silver, and in all precious things of Egypt; also he shall pass by Libya and Ethiopia. (And he shall be the lord of the treasures of gold, and of silver, and of all the precious things in Egypt; and he shall also take over Libya and Ethiopia.) 44And fame from the east and from the north shall disturb him; and he shall come with a great multitude to all-break, and to slay full many men. (And then news from the east and from the north shall trouble him; and he shall come with a great multitude to all-break, and to kill a great many men.) 45And he shall set his tabernacle(s) in Apadno, betwixt the seas, on the noble hill and holy; and he shall come till to the height thereof, and no man shall help him. (And he shall set up the tents of his palace between the sea and the noble holy hill; but finally he shall come to his end, with no one to help him.) WYCLIFFE’S BIBLE Comprising of Wycliffe’s Old Testament and Wycliffe’s New Testament (Revised Edition) Translated by JOHN WYCLIFFE and JOHN PURVEY A modern-spelling edition of their 14TH century Middle English translation, the first complete English vernacular version, with an Introduction by TERENCE P. NOBLE Used by Permission Bible Hub |