“I, the Lord, said, ‘How happy I would be to treat you as my own children and give you a pleasant land, a land more beautiful than that of any other nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘My Father’ and not turn away from me.
And in the desert I swore to the Israelites that I would not bring them into the land I had given them. It is a fertile land, the best land in the world.
So the king of the North will do whatever he wants; no one will be able to stand against him. He will gain power and control in the beautiful land of Israel and will have the power to destroy it.
“That ruler will be followed by a very cruel and hated man, who will not have the honor of being from a king’s family. He will attack the kingdom when the people feel safe, and he will take power by lying to the people.
“While I was thinking about the horns, another horn grew up among them. It was a little horn with eyes like a human’s eyes. It also had a mouth, and the mouth was bragging. The little horn pulled out three of the other horns.
‘I scattered them like a hurricane to other countries they did not know. This good land was left so ruined behind them that no one could live there. They had made the desired land a ruin.’ ”