NIV Daniel 11:9 "Then the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South but will retreat to his own country. . .13 For the king of the North will muster another army, larger than the first; and after several years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped.

Before we begin, I'll assume that you've read my post "Let's Look at Daniel's Prophecies Again — Trump IS the Antichrist," which argues that Trump is the focus of the prophecies in Daniel 8 and 9. (In future posts, I'll argue that he's really the focus of the whole book.) Daniel 10 is the introduction to the "Great War," or, as we prefer to call it, "Armageddon," which is launched by the same figure spoken of in Daniel 8 and 9. Daniel 11 then delves into the details of the war from the perspective of the two leaders involved: the kings of the North and South—Trump and Khamenei.

From the outset, the king of the South is clarified as the king of Persia, which today is Iran. In the above post, I show how the king of the North must be an eschatological king, not Alexander the Great, because of the fact that his later successor Antiochus IV Epiphanes was not able to fulfill all of the prophecies Daniel listed. In other words, this whole prophecy-fulfillment chain broke a long time ago.

Also framing the discussion is Revelation 13:5's mention of the "forty-two-month" reign of the Beast. In the above post, I show how Revelation 13:5, Daniel 9:27, and Daniel 12:11 independently corroborate summer 2028.

Invasion Done, Withdrawal Imminent & Preparation for Armageddon Begins

Daniel 11:9 "Then the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South but will retreat to his own country."

If you've been reading my posts, I talk a lot about the recursive nature of biblical prophecy. I believe we've been witnessing foreshadow recursions of Revelation 6:1-6:

• First Seal: Rider on a white horse bent on conquest —> Trump
• Second Seal: Rider on a fiery red horse taking peace from the earth —> many wars and conflicts around the world currently
• Third Seal: Rider on a black horse holding a pair of scales and announcing economic turmoil and inflation. "Do not damage the oil and the wine!" —> oil embargo and loss of lives (wine = blood, cf. Revelation 14:20)

But the reason why Trump must retreat from Iran very soon is because of the timeline given in Daniel 11:13b.

Let's Get the Timeline Right

Daniel 11:13b ". . . after several years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped."

I purposefully took this from the NIV to show a slight mistranslation in the text. Rather than "and after several years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped," the Hebrew text should technically translate as "And (at) the end of times, years . . ."

All the major ancient textual witnesses (LXX, Theodotion, Peshitta, and Vulgate) translate this as simply "years," not "several years." This suggests that "years" should be understood as more than "one" but not necessarily "several":

". . . And at the end of times, years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped."

The distinction is a small but really important one.

First, the Hebrew words for "years" and "two" happen to look exactly alike when you remove the vowels that were added in much later, during the 10th century A.D.:

• שנים — years
• שנים — two

Daniel often uses symbolic language to layer meaning. What if he actually meant "two"? Could he have encoded the duration here via the coincidental spelling, kind of like how he used "little horn"—a description for the Armageddon battle-cry trumpet—to clandestinely point to a future "Trump"? I believe it's very possible.

I believe "two" would also happen to fit perfectly with the timeline provided in Revelation 13:5, which places the end of the reign of the Beast around summer 2028. Not just Revelation 13:5 but Daniel 9:27, Daniel 12:11—and now Daniel 11:13—point to the same window.

This means that in order for there to be enough time to fulfill Daniel 11:13b, the king of the North has to retreat from Persia very soon.

And when he does, know that Armageddon is very likely just two years away. Time is running out. Get right with God—Repent.

Check out my posts "Let's Look at Daniel's Prophecies Again — Trump IS the Antichrist" and "Counting Down to Destruction: How the Beast Will Send You & Your Children Through the Fire for Molech" for additional context.