28/10/2024
Dan 9:24 “Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
Dan 9:25 “Know therefore and discern that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.
Dan 9:26 After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will be with a flood, and war will be even to the end. Desolations are determined.
Dan 9:27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, wrath will be poured out on the desolate.”
Few passages have been more perverted in modern times, than the above texts. This troubled me, long before I could resolve my concerns. A resource that works for me, is the commentary by Adam Clarke, a blessed soul who published his lifetime of labor in 1829.
Pray that the HOLY SPIRIT lead you and guide you as you read the following. Do read it, with an open mind, free of modern biases and prejudices that tend to accommodate those in error rather than those who seek TRUTH. Would you just spare the HOLY SPIRIT a few minutes and consider the following?
“Daniel 9:27
And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate - This clause is remarkably obscure. כנף שקוצים משמם kenaph shikkutsim meshomem, “And upon the wing of abominations causing amazement.” This is a literal translation of the place; but still there is no determinate sense. A Hebrews MS., written in the thirteenth century, has preserved a very remarkable reading here, which frees the place from all embarrassment. Instead of the above reading, this valuable MS. has ובהיכל יהיה שיקוץ ubeheychal yihyey shikkuts; that is, “And in the temple (of the Lord) there shall be abomination.” This makes the passage plain, and is strictly conformable to the facts themselves, for the temple was profaned; and it agrees with the prediction of our Lord, who said that the abomination that maketh desolate should stand in the holy place, Mat_24:15, and quotes the words as spoken δια Δανιηλ του φροφητου, by Daniel the prophet. That the above reading gives the true sense, there can be little doubt, because it is countenanced by the most eminent ancient versions.
The Vulgate reads, Et erit in templo abominatio, “And in the temple there shall be abomination.”
The Septuagint, Και επι το ἱερον βδελυγμα των ερημωσεων, “And upon the temple there shall be the abomination of desolation.”
The Arabic, “And upon the sanctuary there shall be the abomination of ruin.”
The above reading is celebrated by J. D. Michaelis, Epist. De Ebdom. Dan., p. 120: Vix insignius exemplum reperiri posse autumem, ostensuro in codicibus Hebraeis latere lectiones dignissimas quae eruantur, etc. “A more illustrious example can, I think, hardly be found, to show that various readings lie hid in Hebrew MSS., which are most worthy of being exhibited.” Vid. Bib. Hebrews Kennicott, Dis. Gen.
I have only to add that this mode of reckoning years and periods by weeks is not solely Jewish. Macrobius, in his book on Scipio’s dream, has these remarkable words: Sed a sexta usque ad septimam septimanam fit quidem diminutio, sed occulta, et quae detrimentum suum aperta defectione non prodat: ideo nonnullarum rerumpublicarum hic mos est, ut post sextam ad militiam nemo cogatur; Somn. Scip., lib. 1 c. vi., in fine. “From the sixth to the seventh week, there is a diminution of strength; but it is hidden, and does not manifest itself by any outward defect. Hence it was the custom in some republics not to oblige a man to go to the wars after the sixth week, i.e., after forty-two years of age.”
Various Readings of Dan_9:24-27
Having now gone through the whole of this important prophecy, and given that interpretation which the original seemed best to warrant, I shall next proceed to notice the principal various readings found in the Collections of Kennicott and De Rossi, with those from my own MSS., which the reader may collate with the words of the common printed text.
Dan_9:24
שבעים שבעים נחתך על עמך ועל עיר קדשך
לכלא הפשע ולחתם חטאות
ולכפר עו ולהביא צדק עלמים
ובצלחתם חזו ונביא ולמשח קדש קדשים׃
Dan_9:25
ותדע ותשכל
מן מצא דבר להשיב ולבנות ירושלם
עד משיח נגיד שבעים שבעה
ושבעים ששים ושנים תשוב
ונבנתה רחוב וחרוץ ובצוק העתים׃
Dan_9:26
ואחרי השבעים ששים ושנים
יכרת משיח ואין לו
והעיר והקדש ישחית עם נגיד הבא
וקצו בשטף
ועד קץ מלחמה נחרצת שממות׃
Dan_9:27
והגביר ברית לרבים שבוע אחד
וחצי השבוע ישבית זבח ומנחה
ועל כנף שקוצים משמם
ועד כלה ונחרצה תתך על שומם׃
Houbigant’s Translation of Dan_9:24-27
Of the whole passage Houbigant gives the following translation: -
Dan_9:24
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and the city of thy sanctuary:
That sin may be restrained, and transgressions have an end;
That iniquity may be expiated, and an everlasting righteousness brought in;
That visions and prophecies may be sealed up, and the Holy of holies anointed.
Dan_9:25
Know therefore and understand: -
From the edict which shall be promulgated, to return and rebuild Jerusalem, there shall be seven weeks.
Then it shall be fully rebuilt, with anxiety, in difficult times.
Thence, to the Prince Messiah, there shall be sixty-two weeks.
Dan_9:26
And after sixty-two weeks the Messiah shall be slain, and have no justice.
Afterwards he shall waste the city and the sanctuary, by the prince that is to come.
And his end shall be in straits; and to the end of the war desolation is appointed.
Dan_9:27
And for one week he shall confirm a covenant with many;
And in the middle of the week he shall abrogate sacrifice and offering; And in the temple there shall be the abomination of desolation,
Until the ruin which is decreed rush on after the desolation.
In this translation there are some peculiarities.
Instead of “the street shall be built again, and the wall,” Dan_9:26, he translates רחוב וחרוץ (with the prefix ב beth instead of ו vau in the latter word), “it shall be fully (the city and all its walls) rebuilt with anxiety.”
Instead of ואי לו “but not for himself,” he translates, “Nor shall justice be done him;” supposing that די “justice” was originally in the verse.
Instead of “the people of the prince,” Dan_9:26, he translates “by the prince,” using עם im as a preposition, instead of עם am, “the people.”
Instead of “and for the overspreading,” he translates ועל כנף “in the temple;” following the Septuagint, και επι το ἱερον. This rendering is at least as good as ours: but see the marginal readings here, and the preceding notes.
Houbigant contends also that the arrangement of the several members in these passages is confused. He proposes one alteration, which is important, viz., From the promulgation of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem shall be seven weeks; and unto Messiah the prince, sixty-two weeks. All these alterations he vindicates in his notes at the end of this chapter. In the text I have inserted Houbigant’s dots, or marks of distinction between the different members of the verses.
Various Readings
Dan_9:24
שבוים שבעים weeks written full, so to prevent mistakes, in thirteen of Kennicott’s, four of De Rossi’s, and one ancient of my own.
שבעים Seventy-one of Kennicott’s, and one of De Rossi’s, have שבועים “weeks, weeks, weeks;” that is, “many weeks:” but this is a mere mistake.
לכלא “to restrain.” לכלח “to consume,” is the reading of twenty-nine of Kennicott’s, thirteen of De Rossi’s, and one ancient of my own.
ולחתם “and to seal up.” Forty-three of Kennicott’s, twelve of De Rossi’s, and one of my own, have ולחתם “to make an end.” One reads ולחתום, more full.
חטאות “sins.” חטאת “sin,” in the singular, is the reading of twenty-six of De Rossi’s; and so, in the second instance where this word occurs, two of my MSS.
עלמים “everlasting.” Two of my oldest MSS read שלמים, and so in the next instance.
ונביא “and the prophet.” The conjunction is omitted by two of Kennicott’s.
ותשכל “and understand.” One of my MSS. has ותשכיל.
Dan_9:25
מן מוצא “from the publication.” One MS. of De Rossi’s omits the מן “from,” and instead of either, one of my oldest MSS. has למוצא “to the publication.”
משיה “Messiah.” Nine MSS. read the word with the point sheva, which makes it read, in regimine, “the anointed of the prince.” But this is evidently the effect of carelessness, or rather design.
שבעה “seven.” Two MSS. add the conjunction ו vau, “and.”
ולבנות “and to build.” One of mine omits the conjunction.
שבעים שבעה “seven weeks.” One of Kennicott’s has שבעים שבה “seventy years.”
ושבעים “and weeks.” One of Kennicott’s has ושבוע and a week.”
ששים “sixty.” A few add the conjunction ו vau, “and sixty;” and another has ששה “six;” and another שבעים “seventy.” Wherever this word signifies weeks, two of my oldest MSS. write it full שבועים. In one of my MSS. השבועים ששים are omitted in the text, but added by a later hand in the margin.
וחרוץ “and the ditch.” One MS. has העיר “the city.” And for רחב “street,” one of mine has רחוב of the same meaning, but more full.
ובצוק “and in straits,” or anxiety. One MS. without and, as the Vulgate and Septuagint.
Dan_9:26
והקדש “and the holy place or sanctuary.” But two of my most ancient MSS., and four of Kennicott’s, leave out the ו vau, and read הקדש והעיר “and the holy city,” or “city of holiness,” instead of “the city and sanctuary.” In one MS. ו is omitted in והעיר.
וקצו “and its end.” One MS. omits the conjunction ו and; one omits the following קץ “the end;” reading thus:” and unto the war.” But a more singular reading is that of one of my own MSS. written about a.d. 1136, which has וקיצו “and its summer.”
ששים “sixty.” But one of Kennicott’s MSS. has ששים שבעים “sixty weeks;” and another adds the conjunction, And sixty.
ישחית shall destroy.” But one of De Rossi’s has ישחת “shall be destroyed.”
עם “the people.” עם im, “with,” is the reading of one of Kennicott’s, with the Septuagint, Theodotion, Syriac, Hexapla, Vulgate, and Arabic.
בשטף “with a flood.” One MS. has השטף “the flood.”
ועל כנף “and upon the wing.” Nearly twenty MSS. have ועד “and unto,” etc.
Dan_9:27
ועד קץ “and unto the end.” עד־ “to the end;” and one has ועל “and upon.”
קץ “the end.” One has עת “the time;” and another both, עת קץ “the time of the end.”
ועל כנף שקוצים “and upon the wing (or battlement) abomination.” Instead of this, one of the Parisian MSS. numbered three hundred and thirteen in Kennicott’s, has ובהיכל יהיה שיקוץ “and in the temple there shall be abomination.” See the preceding notes. This is a similar reading to Theodotion, the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, Hexapla, and the Arabic; and is countenanced by our Lord, Mat_24:15. After all that has been said on this reading, (which may be genuine, but is less liable to suspicion, as the MS. appears to be the work of some Christian; it is written from the left to the right hand, and is accompanied by the Vulgate Latin), if this be an attempt to accommodate the Hebrew to the Vulgate, it should be stated that they who have examined this MS. closely, have asserted that there is no evidence that the writer has endeavored to conform the Hebrew to the Latin text, unless this be accounted such. The ancient versions give this reading great credit.
שקוצים “abominations.” One of mine has less fully
שקצים.
משמם “desolation.” One of mine has more fully משימם.
ועד “and unto,” is wanting in one of mine;
ועל “and upon” is the reading in one other.
על שומם “until the desolation.” שומם “the desolation.” One of mine has שמם without the ו vau. על is wanting; but is added in the margin, by a later hand, in another of these ancient MSS.
I have thus set down almost all the variations mentioned by Kennicott and De Rossi, and those furnished by three ancient MSS. of my own, that the learned reader may avail himself of every help to examine thoroughly this important prophecy. Upwards of thirty various readings in the compass of four verses, and several of them of great moment.” Adam Clarke 1829
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If we but cast down imaginations of men, and prayerfully consider what is written above, it is easy to see how accurate interpretation is not always easily determined. So let the HOLY SPIRIT lead you and guide you.
From my perspective it is quite clear, that there is only ONE who makes a covenant with me. HE alone is worthy of all praise. To ascribe this TRUTH to satan or man, to me, is a grave error. SERIOUS ERROR.
I’m ask you not to debate this. You are entitled to what ever opinion you want or have. I’m just begging you, that you pray that your opinion is in alignment with HIS word. And even then you can see how manuscripts can vary in presentation. What may be clearly written and understood by one, may confuse another.
Why not rest the whole thing with HIM? What will be, will be. To HIM alone be the glory, honor, and praise.
Study beyond John 3:16, beloved. There is a book of books afforded us for this purpose. To not study this book, is, well, dishonorable, to say the least. I don’t think you will find ignorance as an excuse when you see HIM face to face. Selah. Be blessed.
