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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.[a] Therefore consider the message and understand the vision:[b]

24 “Seventy weeks[c] have been determined
concerning your people and your holy city
to put an end to[d] rebellion,
to bring sin[e] to completion,[f]
to atone for iniquity,
to bring in perpetual[g] righteousness,
to seal up[h] the prophetic vision,[i]
and to anoint a Most Holy Place.[j]
25 So know and understand:
From the issuing of the command[k] to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem until an anointed one, a prince arrives,[l]
there will be a period of seven weeks[m] and sixty-two weeks.
It will again be built,[n] with plaza and moat,
but in distressful times.

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Footnotes

  1. Daniel 9:23 tn Or “a precious treasure”; KJV “greatly beloved”; NASB, NIV “highly esteemed.”
  2. Daniel 9:23 tn This sentence is perhaps a compound hendiadys (“give serious consideration to the revelatory vision”).
  3. Daniel 9:24 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 seventy “sevens” of years, or a total of 490 years.
  4. Daniel 9:24 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.
  5. Daniel 9:24 tc The present translation reads the Qere (singular), rather than the Kethib (plural).
  6. Daniel 9:24 tn The Hebrew phrase לְכַלֵּא (lekhalleʾ) is apparently an alternative (metaplastic) spelling of the root כָּלָה (kalah, “to complete, finish”), rather than a form of כָּלָא (kalaʾ, “to shut up, restrain”), as has sometimes been supposed.
  7. Daniel 9:24 tn Or “everlasting.”
  8. Daniel 9:24 sn The act of sealing in the OT is a sign of authentication (cf. 1 Kgs 21:8 and Jer 32:10, 11, 44).
  9. Daniel 9:24 tn Heb “vision and prophecy.” The expression is a hendiadys.
  10. Daniel 9:24 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.
  11. Daniel 9:25 tn Or “decree” (NASB, NIV); or “word” (NAB, NRSV).
  12. Daniel 9:25 tn The word “arrives” is added in the translation for clarification.
  13. Daniel 9:25 tn Heb “sevens” (also later in this line and in v. 26).sn The accents in the MT indicate disjunction at this point, which would make it difficult, if not impossible, to identify the “anointed one/prince” of this verse as messianic. The reference in v. 26 to the sixty-two weeks as a unit favors the MT accentuation, not the traditional translation. If one follows the MT accentuation, one may translate “From the going forth of the message to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, a prince arrives, there will be a period of seven weeks. During a period of sixty-two weeks it will again be built, with plaza and moat, but in distressful times.” The present translation follows a traditional reading of the passage that deviates from the MT accentuation.
  14. Daniel 9:25 tn Heb “it will return and be built.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.

23 As soon as you began to pray,(A) a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.(B) Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:(C)

24 “Seventy ‘sevens’[a] are decreed for your people and your holy city(D) to finish[b] transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone(E) for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness,(F) to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.[c]

25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild(G) Jerusalem until the Anointed One,[d](H) the ruler,(I) comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. Daniel 9:24 Or ‘weeks’; also in verses 25 and 26
  2. Daniel 9:24 Or restrain
  3. Daniel 9:24 Or the most holy One
  4. Daniel 9:25 Or an anointed one; also in verse 26