Book 4
Concerning the visions of the prophet Daniel1
Chapter 51
1. And so it is needful to consider the coming persecution of the saints at that time5 and the distress, for it is necessary for us, from what has partially occurred already, to reflect on the future things, that such distress and upheaval in all the world will occur, and everywhere all the faithful will be killed and slaughtered in every city and land, and the blood of the righteous will be poured out and men will be burned alive and others shall be thrown to beasts, and infants in the womb shall be murdered, and all shall be hurled away unburied, and shall be eaten by dogs, both virgins and women shall be corrupted in openness and shall be shamefully mocked, and be captured and they shall dig up the graves of saints and destroy the remains and they shall hurl them onto a plain, and they shall become blasphemous.
2. Then there shall be upheaval in the cities, when the saints are persecuted from there. There will be upheaval in roads and in deserts when all wish to be hidden there. There will be upheaval in the sea when all attempt to flee through water. There will be upheaval on the islands when all seek to go there.
3. And then the earth will be barren for the saints and every city uninhabitable and the sea unnavigable and all the world a desert, when they are destroyed by famine, and faint from thirst, but others die from fear and from the great persecution.
4. But then how will a man hide? To whom shall his own children run? How, after his belongings have been carried off, shall he preserve them, when he is not able to save his own soul?
5. Then there will be many wailings of infants, lamentations of both fathers and mothers, loud cryings of both wives and virgins, moans of both brothers and cousins.
6. Then will one mourn another? Brother will not mourn brother, for he also expects death. Mother will not mourn daughter, for she also suspects death. Father will not mourn son, fearing that he also will be killed.
5 Lit: then
Chapter 52
1. On account of this, the Lord, foreseeing these things, says, “Pray that your flight does not happen in winter or on the Sabbath, you ought not to rest from righteousness nor engage in the matters of this life, as in winter, lest that day unknowingly fall upon you as a trap.”1
2. “For if,” he says, “those days were not curtailed, not any flesh would be saved. But on account of the elect those days will be curtailed.”2
3. “But after the persecution of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give its splendor and the stars shall burn out and fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken and then they shall see the Son of Man coming with power and great glory.”3
4. For if the devil receives for a little while authority to trouble the earth, as it is written, “God has given to him the authority to test those who dwell upon the earth,”4 how much more rather that the Son of God, when he takes all authority of heavenly and earthly and subterranean things, shall trouble all the earth and the elements in it, arriving to avenge the saints with angelic power and patriarchal glory, when he comes to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled by all who pray to him and to repay those who persecuted us with persecution, but to repay us who were persecuted with rest.
1 Matthew 24:20; Luke 21:34
2 Matthew 24:22
3 Matthew 24:29-30
4 Revelation 13:2, 12
Chapter 53
1. And so Daniel has foretold two abominations, one of destruction, one of desolation. What is the one of destruction but what was set up there in the time of Antiochus? And what was the one of desolation but the universal5 abomination when the Antichrist is near?
2. As Daniel says, “And he himself shall stand for the destruction of many and he shall divide the earth in gifts and he shall cast an embankment against her6 and the land of Egypt shall not be saved7, and these shall be saved from his hand, Edom and Moab and the chief of the sons of Ammon.”1
3. For these are partners with him on account of kinship2 who also first proclaimed him king. For Edom is the sons of Esau who dwell at Mount Seir. But Moab and Ammon are the sons of Lot, who were begotten from his two daughters. As also Isaiah says, “And they shall be dispersed in ships of foreigners, carrying them together to the sea and those from the East and the West and from the North shall give glory, but the sons of Ammon first shall obey.”3
5 τὸ καθόλου Lit: that of entirety, that of completeness
6 Possibly referring to Jerusalem
7 Lit: be unto salvation
1 Daniel 11:41
2 Or: closeness in race
3 Isaiah 11:14
Chapter 54
1. This one being proclaimed by them as king and being glorified by them and becoming the abomination of desolation to the world, he shall rule one thousand two hundred ninety days. As Daniel also says, “And they will give the abomination of desolation one thousand two hundred ninety days. Blessed is he who endures and reaches the one thousand three hundred thirty-five days.”4
2. For when the abomination is present and wages war against the saints, whenever his days have passed, and it draws near to the forty-five other days which approach the fiftieth day, it reaches to the kingdom of heavens.
3. For the Antichrist comes to the portion on the fiftieth day as about to inherit the kingdom together with Christ.
4. And on account of this Isaiah says, “Let the impious be killed, so that he may not see the glory of the Lord.”5
5. And Paul says to the Thessalonians, “Whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth and shall abolish him with the manifestation of his advent,”6 but the saints are destined to inherit the kingdom with Christ.
4 Daniel 12:11-12
5 Isaiah 26:10
6 2 Thessalonians 2:8
Chapter 55
1. And so of the things which will be in this way he adds saying, “And many of they who sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to eternal life and some to reproach and eternal shame and they who understand shall shine as the splendor of the firmament and the many righteous as the stars in the age to come1.”2
2. And so who are they who sleep in the dust of the earth, but the bodies of men who receive their own souls to be raised, who are of the resurrection of life, who are pure and radiant and shine as splendor of the firmament, who receive these things. But they who have the resurrection of judgment, sufficient in themselves for eternal punishment, receive these things, just as Paul says, “But he himself shall be saved as through fire.”3
3. For also the Lord in the Gospel spoke the same, “Then the righteous shall gleam as the sun shines in its glory.”4
4. And Isaiah says, “Rise sleeper, and wake from the dead and Christ shall shine on you.”5
5. And the Lord again, “Truly I say to you, an hour comes and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and those who practice good shall rise to the resurrection of life, but those who practice evil to the resurrection of judgment.”6
6. These, he says, shall be resurrected to life, they who really have believed in life and who are written in the Book of Life. And they to eternal reproach and shame, who partnered with the Antichrist, and with him are cast into eternal punishment.
7. Concerning whom Isaiah prophesies saying, “In which manner a garment which has been defiled in blood will not be pure, thus you will not be pure, because you have desolated my earth and have killed my people. The evil seed shall never remain forever. Prepare your children for the slaughter for the sins of your fathers, that they may not raise up and inherit my land.”1
1 Lit: in the age and still
2 Daniel 12:2-3
3 1 Corinthians 3:15
4 Matthew 13:43
5 Isaiah 26:19, Ephesians 5:14
6 John 5:25,29
1 Isaiah 14:19-21
Chapter 56
1. After these things were spoken in this way, Daniel says, “And I saw, and behold, two other men were standing, one on the side of the bank of the river and one on the other side of the bank of the river and they answered to the man who stood above the water of the river and they said to him, ‘When will be the end of the wondrous words which you have spoken?’ And I heard the man who was clothed in linen, who was above the water of the river and he raised his right and his left hand to heaven and swore by him who lives for ever that in time and times and half of the time, when the dispersion is consummated, they will know all these things.”2
2. And so who were the two men who were standing alongside the bank of the river except the law and the prophets?
3. And who was the one who stood above the water except he himself3, concerning whom they themselves heralded long ago, who was destined to be visibly testified by the Father at the Jordan in the end and to be shown to the people in openness by John, who carries the ink of a scribe and linen around his loins and being dressed with a multicolored tunic.4
4. These, seeing him, learned that to him was given all rule and authority, so that they understood exactly concerning him, when he is about to bring judgment to the world and when what was spoken by him shall be fulfilled.
5. But he, wishing to persuade these according to every way, raised his right hand and his left hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever.
6. What and to whom did he swear? The Son swore to Father, saying that the Father lives forever and that they truly shall know all these things in a time and times and half of a time, when the dispersal of the Jews has been consummated.
7. And so he stretched out his hands, and through this he displayed the passion.
8. But when he says, “In a time and times and half of the time,”1 he signaled that the things of the Antichrist are for three-and-a-half years. For he says a time is one year, but times are two years, and half of a time is half of one year. These are the one thousand two hundred ninety days which Daniel foretold.
2 Daniel 12:5-7
3 Or: the very same one
4 ὁ τὸ κάστυ τοῦ γραµµατέως περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν φορῶν καὶ τὸ βαδδίν, τὸν
ποικίλον χιτῶνα ἐνδεδυµένος
1 Daniel 12:7
IChapter 57
1. And so, after the dispersion of the Jews happens, the suffering of the people2 is consummated, in those days the Antichrist is near, then they shall know all these things.
2. And so, O man, why do you still doubt at what was spoken, or how do you not believe what was spoken by the Lord, when his first advent has already occurred, and he who stood upon the water at that time and was seen by Daniel in the world, now is made famous and his passion is declared to all, and the dispersion has happened to the people of the Jews by the Romans?
3. For when he says, “When the dispersion of the Jews is consummated they shall know all these things,”3 then, when the Lord came to them and was not recognized by them, they were scattered into all the world, becoming exiles from their own land. And being attacked by enemies, they were banished
from the city of Jerusalem, becoming a joy to all nations, so that the Gospel of the Lord may be preached in all the world and all time may be fulfilled and the end of the week may be encompassed and the two precursors of Christ may be dispatched and the abomination of desolation may be shown with them and the Judge of judges may be revealed from heaven and the resurrection of the saints and of all the world
may occur and the eternal kingdom may be given to the saints and the unquenchable and sleepless fire of the impious may be inflamed.
2 Or: the passion of Christ
3 Daniel 12:7
Chapter 58
1. After these things were spoken in this way, the prophet, wishing to more precisely investigate what would be the kind of things which would happen after the resurrection, he answered him and said, “‘Lord what will be the end of these?’ And he said, ‘Come Daniel. because these words are closed and sealed until the end of time, until many are chosen and are made white and are tried with fire and the lawless shall be lawless and the wise shall understand and you, come and rest. For there are still many days to the fulfillment of the consummation and to the resurrection, to your inheritance at the consummation of days.’”1
2. For since what God prepared for the saints a man is now not able to describe, for neither his eye sees, nor his ear hears, nor the heart of a man ascends to it, for which even the angels desire to glimpse, he spoke in this way to him, “These words are sealed until the end of time until many are chosen and are made white and are tried with fire.”2
3. But who are the chosen, but they who are found worthy of the kingdom?
4. And who is whitened, but they who believe the word of truth so that they are whitened through it and casting off the filth of sins they are clothed with purity from heaven and the radiant Holy Spirit, so that when the cloud1 is present they may immediately enter with him?
5. And who are they who are tried with fire except they who pass through fire and water through the washing of rebirth of the Spirit and do the will of the Father through many fiery trials and afflictions.
6. “And the lawless shall be lawless and the wise shall understand.”2 They who are lawless are that way through their own choice and the wise again, through their own choice, are satisfied.
1 Daniel 12:8-10
2 Daniel 12:9-10
1 This cloud refers to the cloud on which Jesus will arrive at his second coming
2 Daniel 12:10
Chapter 59
1. And so, when the Lord described this to the disciples concerning the coming kingdom of the saints, that it will be glorious and wonderful, Judas was astounded at the words and said, “And who will then see these things?” But the Lord said, “Those who are worthy will see these things.”3
2. Now behold, O man, what was sealed long ago and was not able to be known in openness, is now preached on the rooftops and the Book of Life, which has already clearly been opened4, opens wide5
on the wood of the cross, having an inscription written in Latin and Greek and Hebrew, that also the Romans and Greeks and Hebrews may be taught, so that.
3 This is likely taken from an account written by Papias, possibly via
Irenaeus:
“These things Papias, the hearer of John, who was a
companion of Polycarp, a man of ancient time, testifies in writing in the
fourth of his books, for there are five books composed by him. And he
adds saying “These things are believable to those who believe.” For,
he says, “even Judas the betrayer who did not believe and questioned
‘And how will such things happen been accomplished by God?’ But the
Lord said ‘those who come to those times shall see.’” ~Irenaeus Against Heresies 5.33.3-4 c.180 AD
4 Lit: stretched forth
5 Lit: spreads forth
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