And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times.
And in the end of years - when the predicted time shall be consummated Daniel 11:13, margin, 'at the end of times, even years;' (Daniel 8:17, "at the time of the end;" Daniel 12:13 "at the end of the days").
For the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north - Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt. The latter, in order to end his war with Antiochus Theus, "king of the north" (literally, midnight: the prophetic phrase for the region whence came affliction to Israel, Jeremiah 1:13-15, "a seething pot, and the face thereof is toward the north;" Joel 2:20) - i:e., Syria gave Berenice to Antiochus, who thereupon divorced his former wife, Laodice, and disinherited her son, Seleucus Callinicus. The designation, "king of the north," and "of the south," is given in relation to Judea, as the stand-point. Egypt is mentioned by name (Daniel 11:8; Daniel 11:42), though Syria is not; because the former was in Daniel's time a flourishing kingdom, whereas Syria was then a mere dependency of Assyria and Babylon: an undesigned proof of the genuineness of the book of Daniel.
To make an agreement - literally, rights, i:e., to put things to rights between the belligerents.
But she shall not retain the power of the arm - she shall not be able to effect the purpose of the alliance, namely, that she should be the mainstay of peace. Ptolemy having died, Antiochus took back Laodice, who then poisoned him, and caused Berenice and her son to be put to death, and raised her own son, Seleucus Nicator, to the throne.
Neither shall he stand - the King of Egypt shall not gain his point of setting his line on the throne of Syria.
Nor his arm - that on which he relied, Berenice and her offspring.
But she shall be given up, and they that brought her - her attendants from Egypt. But she shall be given up, and they that brought her - her attendants from Egypt.
And he that begat her - rather, as margin, 'the child whom brought forth' (Ewald). If the English version (which Maurer approves) be retained, as Ptolemy died a natural death, "given up" is not in his case, as in Berenice's, to be understood of giving up to death, but in a general sense, of his plan proving abortive.
And he that strengthened her in these times - Antiochus Theus, who is to attach himself to her (having divorced Laodice) at the times predicted (Gejer).