7:23 “This is what he told me: 1
‘The fourth beast means that there will be a fourth kingdom on earth
that will differ from all the other kingdoms.
It will devour all the earth
and will trample and crush it.
7:24 The ten horns
mean that ten kings will arise from that kingdom.
Another king will arise after them,
but he will be different from the earlier ones.
He will humiliate 2 three kings.
7:25 He will speak words against the Most High.
He will harass 3 the holy ones of the Most High continually.
His intention 4 will be to change times established by law. 5
They will be delivered into his hand
For a time, times, 6 and half a time.
1 tn Aram “thus he said.”
2 tn Or “subjugate”; KJV, NASB, NIV “subdue”; ASV, NRSV “put down.”
3 tn Aram “wear out” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB, NLT “wear down.” The word is a hapax legomenon in biblical Aramaic, but in biblical Hebrew it especially refers to wearing out such things as garments. Here it is translated “harass…continually.”
4 tn Aram “he will think.”
5 tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.
6 sn Although the word times is vocalized in the MT as a plural, it probably should be regarded as a dual. The Masoretes may have been influenced here by the fact that in late Aramaic (and Syriac) the dual forms fall out of use. The meaning would thus be three and a half “times.”