11:33 And they that understand among the {n} people shall instruct many: {o} yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, [many] days.
(n) Those that remain constant among the people will teach others by their example, and edify many in the true religion.
(o) By which he exhorts the godly to constancy, even though they should perish a thousand times, and even though their miseries endure ever so long.
11:31-45 The remainder of this prophecy is very difficult, and commentators differ much respecting it. From Antiochus the account seems to pass to antichrist. Reference seems to be made to the Roman empire, the fourth monarchy, in its pagan, early Christian, and papal states. The end of the Lord's anger against his people approaches, as well as the end of his patience towards his enemies. If we would escape the ruin of the infidel, the idolater, the superstitious and cruel persecutor, as well as that of the profane, let us make the oracles of God our standard of truth and of duty, the foundation of our hope, and the light of our paths through this dark world, to the glorious inheritance above.
