Daniel 7:23-26

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.

7:26 But the court will convene, ⁷  and his ruling authority will be removed –

destroyed and abolished forever!

[7:23]  ¹ tn Aram “thus he said.”

[7:24]  ² tn Or “subjugate”; KJV, NASB, NIV “subdue”; ASV, NRSV “put down.”

[7:25]  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.”

[7:25]  ⁴ tn Aram “he will think.”

[7:25]  ⁵ tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.

[7:25]  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.”

[7:26]  ⁷ tn Aram “judgment will sit” (KJV similar).