Daniel 9:24-25

9:24 “Seventy weeks ¹  have been determined

concerning your people and your holy city

to put an end to ²  rebellion,

to bring sin ³  to completion, ⁴ 

to atone for iniquity,

to bring in perpetual ⁵  righteousness,

to seal up ⁶  the prophetic vision, ⁷ 

and to anoint a most holy place. ⁸ 

9:25 So know and understand:

From the issuing of the command ⁹  to restore and rebuild

Jerusalem ¹⁰  until an anointed one, a prince arrives, ¹¹ 

there will be a period of seven weeks ¹²  and sixty-two weeks.

It will again be built, ¹³  with plaza and moat,

but in distressful times.

[9:24]  ¹ tn Heb “sevens.” Elsewhere the term is used of a literal week (a period of seven days), cf. Gen 29:27-28; Exod 34:22; Lev 12:5; Num 28:26; Deut 16:9-10; 2 Chr 8:13; Jer 5:24; Dan 10:2-3. Gabriel unfolds the future as if it were a calendar of successive weeks. Most understand the reference here as periods of seventy “sevens” of years, or a total of 490 years.

[9:24]  ² tc Or “to finish.” The present translation reads the Qere (from the root תָּמַם, tamam) with many witnesses. The Kethib has “to seal up” (from the root הָתַם, hatam), a confusion with a reference later in the verse to sealing up the vision.

[9:24]  ³ tc The present translation reads the Qere (singular), rather than the Kethib (plural).

[9:24]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew phrase לְכַלֵּא (lÿkhalle’) is apparently an alternative (metaplastic) spelling of the root כָּלָה (kalah, “to complete, finish”), rather than a form of כָּלָא (kala’, “to shut up, restrain”), as has sometimes been supposed.

[9:24]  ⁵ tn Or “everlasting.”

[9:24]  ⁶ sn The act of sealing in the OT is a sign of authentication. Cf. 1 Kgs 21:8; Jer 32:10, 11, 44.

[9:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “vision and prophecy.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[9:24]  ⁸ tn Or “the most holy place” (NASB, NLT); or “a most holy one”; or “the most holy one,” though the expression is used of places or objects elsewhere, not people.

[9:25]  ⁹ tn Or “decree” (NASB, NIV); or “word” (NAB, NRSV).

[9:25]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:25]  ¹¹ tn The word “arrives” is added in the translation for clarification.

[9:25]  ¹² tn Heb “sevens” (also later in this line and in v. 26).

[9:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “it will return and be built.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.