Daniel 9:23

9:23 At the beginning of your requests a message went out, and I have come to convey it to you, for you are of great value in God’s sight. ¹  Therefore consider the message and understand the vision: ² 

Matthew 13:23

13:23 But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands. He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” ³ 

Matthew 24:15

The Abomination of Desolation

24:15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation ⁴  – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

Mark 13:14

The Abomination of Desolation

13:14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation ⁵  standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee ⁶  to the mountains.

Acts 8:30

8:30 So Philip ran up ⁷  to it ⁸  and heard the man ⁹  reading Isaiah the prophet. He ¹⁰  asked him, ¹¹  “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

¹ tn Or “a precious treasure”; KJV “greatly beloved”; NASB, NIV “highly esteemed.”

² tn This sentence is perhaps a compound hendiadys (“give serious consideration to the revelatory vision”).

³ tn The Greek is difficult to translate because it switches from a generic “he” to three people within this generic class (thus, something like: “Who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one instance a hundred times, in another, sixty times, in another, thirty times”).

⁴ sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c., the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:14, 19, 24; Rev 3:10).

⁵ sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c., the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:19, 24; Matt 24:21; Rev 3:10).

⁶ sn Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17; Judg 6:2; Isa 15:5; Jer 16:16; Zech 14:5.

⁷ tn The participle προσδραμών (prosdramwn) is regarded as attendant circumstance.

⁸ tn The words “to it” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

⁹ tn Grk “heard him”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

¹¹ tn Grk “he said”; but since what follows is a question, it is better English style to translate the introduction to the question “he asked him.”