peace in the middle east

²⁴Seventy weeks of years are concentrated on your people and on your holy city, so that transgression shall be finished, and sin shall reach an end, and iniquity shall be wiped away, and so that everlasting justice shall be brought in, and vision and prophecy shall be fulfilled, and the Saint of saints shall be anointed. ²⁵Therefore, know and take heed: from the going forth of the word to build up Jerusalem again, until the Christ leader, there will be seven weeks of years, and sixty-two weeks of years; and the wide path will be built again, and the walls, in a time of anguish. ²⁶And after sixty-two weeks of years, the Christ leader will be slain. And the people who have denied him will not be his. And the people, when their leader arrives, will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will be devastation, and, after the end of the war, the desolation will be set up. ²⁷But he will confirm a covenant with many for one week of years; and for half of the week of years, victim and sacrifice will nearly cease; but there will be in the temple the abomination of desolation. And the desolation will continue even to the consummation and the end.”

¹“And so, from the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood firm, so that he might be reinforced and strengthened. ²And now I will announce to you the truth. Behold, up to a certain point, three kings will stand in Persia, and the fourth will be exceedingly enriched in power above them all. And when he has grown strong by his resources, he will stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. ³But there will rise up a strong king, and he will rule with great power, and he will do what he pleases. ⁴And when he has been firmly established, his kingdom will be shattered and will be divided towards the four winds of the heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to his power with which he ruled. For his kingdom will be torn to pieces, even for the outsiders who have been expelled from these. ⁵And the king of the South will be reinforced, yet one of his leaders will prevail over him, and he will rule with riches, for great is his domain. ⁶And after the end of years, they will form a federation, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to make friendship, but she will not obtain the strength of arms, neither will her offspring stand firm, and she will be handed over, along with those who brought her, her young men, and those who comforted her in these times.

³For when they will say, “Peace and security!” then destruction will suddenly overwhelm them, like the labor pains of a woman with child, and they will not escape.

²⁷But he will confirm a covenant with many for one week of years; and for half of the week of years, victim and sacrifice will nearly cease; but there will be in the temple the abomination of desolation. And the desolation will continue even to the consummation and the end.”

¹And Jesus departed from the temple and went away. And his disciples approached him, so as to show him the buildings of the temple. ²But he said to them in response: “Do you see all these things? Amen I say to you, there shall not remain here stone upon stone, which is not torn down.” ³Then, when he was seated at the Mount of Olives, the disciples drew near to him privately, saying: “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your advent and of the consummation of the age?” ⁴And answering, Jesus said to them: “Pay attention, lest someone lead you astray. ⁵For many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the Christ.’ And they will lead many astray. ⁶For you will hear of battles and rumors of battles. Take care not to be disturbed. For these things must be, but the end is not so soon.

¹⁴And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached throughout the entire world, as a testimony to all nations. And then the consummation will occur.

²⁴He proposed another parable to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵But while the men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds amid the wheat, and then went away. ²⁶And when the plants had grown, and had produced fruit, then the weeds also appeared. ²⁷So the servants of the Father of the family, approaching, said to him: ‘Lord, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then how is it that it has weeds?’ ²⁸And he said to them, ‘A man who is an enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Is it your will that we should go and gather them up?’ ²⁹And he said: ‘No, lest perhaps in gathering the weeds, you might also root out the wheat together with it.

²O God, who will ever be like you? Do not be silent, and do not be unmoved, O God. ³For behold, your enemies have sounded off, and those who hate you have carried out a head. ⁴They have acted with malice in counsel over your people, and they have plotted against your holy ones. ⁵They have said, “Come, let us scatter them from the nations and not allow the name of Israel to be remembered any longer.” ⁶For they plotted unanimously. Joined together against you, they ordained a covenant: ⁷the tabernacle of Edomites and Ishmaelites, and Moab and the Hagarites,

¹⁴For he is our peace. He made the two into one, by dissolving the intermediate wall of separation, of opposition, by his flesh, ¹⁵emptying the law of commandments by decree, so that he might join these two, in himself, into one new man, making peace ¹⁶and reconciling both to God, in one body, through the cross, destroying this opposition in himself. ¹⁷And upon arriving, he evangelized peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For by him, we both have access, in the one Spirit, to the Father. ¹⁹Now, therefore, you are no longer visitors and new arrivals. Instead, you are citizens among the saints in the household of God,

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.

³¹And arms will take his side, and they will pollute the sanctuary of the strength, and they will take away the continual sacrifice and will replace it with the abomination of desolation.

¹¹And from the time when the continual sacrifice will be taken away and the abomination of desolation will be set up, there will be one thousand two hundred ninety days.

⁹Remember the past ages. For I am God, and there is no other god. There is no one like me. ¹⁰From the beginning, I announce the last things, and from the start, the things that have not yet been done, saying: My plan will stand firm, and my entire will shall be done.

⁷For the Lord God does not fulfill his word, unless he has revealed his secret to his servants the prophets.