Daniel 11:18

His fate further drives him to make an assault on the islands and maritime coasts of the west (איּים), many of which he takes. וישׁב is not, after the Keri, to be changed into וישׂם; for turning himself from Egypt to the islands, he turns back his face toward his own land in the north. The two following clauses are explained by most interpreters thus: "but a captain shall stop his scorn (bring it to silence), and moreover shall give back (recompense) scorn to him in return." This is then, according to the example of Jerome, referred to the expedition of Antiochus Epiphanes against the Grecian islands which were under the protection of Rome, for which he was assailed and overcome by the consul Lucius Scipio (Asiaticus) in a battle fought at Magnesia ad Sipylum in Lydia. But the translation in question affords a tolerable sense only when we take בּלתּי in the meaning moreover, in addition to; a meaning which it has not, and cannot have according to its etymology. In all places where it is so rendered a negative sentence goes before it, cf. Gen 43:3; Gen 47:18; Jdg 7:14, or a sentence asking a question with a negative sense, as Amo 3:3-4; according to which, לא must here stand before השׁבּית if we would translate it by besides that or only. בּלתּי has the idea of exception, and can only be rendered after an affirmative statement by however, for the passage introduced by its limits the statement going before. Thus Theodot. rightly: καταπαύσει ἄρχοντας ὀνειδισμοῦ αὐτῶν, πλὴν ὁ ὀνειδισμὸς αὐτοῦ ἐπιστρέψει αὐτῷ; and in close connection with this, Jerome has: et cessare faciet principem opprobrii sui et opprobrium ejus convertetur in eum. In like manner the Peshito. This rendering we must, with Kranichfeld, accede to, and accordingly understand וגו והשׁבּית of…

The angel Gabriel, in this chapter, performs his promise made to Daniel in the foregoing chapter, that he would "show him what should befal his people in the latter days," according to that which was "written in the scriptures of truth:" very particularly does he here foretel the succession of the kings of Persia and Grecia, and the affairs of their kingdoms, especially the mischief which Antiochus Epiphanes did in his time to the church, which was foretold before (Dan 8:11-12). Here is, I. A brief prediction of the setting up of the Grecian monarchy upon the ruins of the Persian monarchy, which was now newly begun (Dan 11:1-4). II. A prediction of the affairs of the two kingdoms of Egypt and Syria, with reference to each other (v. 5-20). III. Of the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes, and his actions and successes (Dan 11:21-29). IV. Of the great mischief that he should do to the Jewish nation and religion, and his contempt of all religion (Dan 11:30-39). V. Of his fall and ruin at last, when he is in the heat of his pursuit (Dan 11:40-45).

11:18 Antiochus III extended his holdings into the coastland—including Anatolia, Macedonia, and Greece—but he was defeated by the Romans in 191 and 190 BC. The prince was the famous Roman general Scipio, who put a stop to Antiochus III’s expansionist policies and caused him to retreat in shame from his western acquisitions.