12:1 “At that time Michael,
the great prince who watches over your people, 6
will arise. 7
There will be a time of distress
unlike any other from the nation’s beginning 8
up to that time.
But at that time your own people,
all those whose names are 9 found written in the book,
will escape.
12:7 Then 10 war broke out in heaven: Michael 11 and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
1 tn Heb “and behold.”
2 tc The Greek version of Theodotion reads “I left him [i.e., Michael] there,” and this is followed by a number of English translations (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT).
3 tn Heb “a book of truth.” Several English versions treat this as a title of some sort (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), although the NAB’s rendering “the truthful book” regards “truth” as an attributive adjective, as does the present translation.
4 tn The word “princes” is supplied for clarity.
5 tn The pronoun is plural in Hebrew, suggesting that Michael is the angelic prince of Daniel and his people.
6 tn Heb “stands over the sons of your people.”
7 tn Heb “will stand up.”
8 tn Or “from the beginning of a nation.”
9 tn The words “whose names are” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
10 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
11 sn The archangel Michael had a special role in protecting the nation of Israel in the OT (Dan 10:13, 21; 12:1; see also Jude 9).