Daniel 10

¹ In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a revelation was made to Daniel known as Belteshazzar, a true revelation of a great conflict. He grasped the meaning of the revelation; what it meant was disclosed to him in a vision.

² At that time, I, Daniel, was doing a three-week penance;

³ I ate no rich food, touched no meat or wine, and did not anoint myself, until these three weeks were over.

⁴ On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I stood on the bank of that great river, the Tigris,

⁵ I raised my eyes to look about me, and this is what I saw: A man dressed in linen, with a girdle of pure gold round his waist;

⁶ his body was like beryl, his face shone like lightning, his eyes were like fiery torches, his arms and his legs had the gleam of burnished bronze, the sound of his voice was like the noise of a crowd.

⁷ I, Daniel, alone saw the apparition; the men who were with me did not see the apparition, but so great a trembling overtook them that they fled to hide.

⁸ I was left alone, gazing on this great apparition; I was powerless, my appearance altered out of all recognition, what strength I had deserted me.

⁹ I heard him speak, and at the sound of his voice I fell unconscious to the ground.

¹⁰ I felt a hand touching me, setting my knees and my hands trembling.

¹¹ He said, ‘Daniel, you are a man specially chosen; listen carefully to the words that I am going to say; stand up; I have been sent to you and here I am’. He said this, and I stood up trembling.

¹² He said then, ‘Daniel, do not be afraid: from that first day when you resolved to humble yourself before God, the better to understand, your words have been heard; and your words are the reason why I have come.

¹³ The prince of the kingdom of Persia has been resisting me for twenty-one days, but Michael,[*a] one of the leading princes, came to my assistance. I have left him confronting the kings of Persia

¹⁴ and have come to tell you what will happen to your people in the days to come. For here is a new vision about those days.’

¹⁵ When he had said these things to me I prostrated myself on the ground, without saying a word;

¹⁶ then someone looking like a son of man came and touched my lips. I opened my mouth to speak, and I said to the person standing in front of me, ‘My lord, anguish overcomes me at this vision, and what strength I had deserts me.

¹⁷ How can my lord’s servant speak to my lord now that I have no strength left and my breath fails me?’

¹⁸ Once again the person like a man touched me; he gave me strength.

¹⁹ ‘Do not be afraid,’ he said ‘you are a man specially chosen; peace be with you; play the man, be strong!’ And as he spoke to me I felt strong again and said, ‘Let my lord speak, you have given me strength’.