Literally, “he shall stand,” that is, “he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north” (RSV). Although it is possible to translate the Hebrew as does the KJV, the fact that Ptolemy III died in 222 B.C., not two years after Seleucus III, would seem to make such a rendering not very meaningful. On the other hand, since in his latter years Ptolemy was not engaged in warfare of any importance, the alternative translation of the Hebrew seems more reasonable.

The Decree of Canopus (239/238 B.C.) states in praise of Ptolemy III: “‘And the sacred images carried off from the land by the Persians, the king having made a foreign campaign, recovered into Egypt, and restored to the temples from which each of them had been carried away’” (translation in J. P. Mahaffy, A History of Egypt Under the Ptolemaic Dynasty [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899], p. 113). Jerome (Commentariorum in Danielem Liber, ch. XI, in J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 25, col. 561) states that Ptolemy III brought back immense booty to Egypt.

 This sole occurrence (until v. 42) of the actual name of the country of “the king of the south” establishes beyond doubt the identity of that land.