Daniel 9:25-26

9:25 So know and understand:

From the issuing of the command ¹  to restore and rebuild

Jerusalem ²  until an anointed one, a prince arrives, ³ 

there will be a period of seven weeks ⁴  and sixty-two weeks.

It will again be built, ⁵  with plaza and moat,

but in distressful times.

9:26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,

an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. ⁶ 

As for the city and the sanctuary,

the people of the coming prince will destroy ⁷  them.

But his end will come speedily ⁸  like a flood. ⁹ 

Until the end of the war that has been decreed

there will be destruction.

[9:25]  ¹ tn Or “decree” (NASB, NIV); or “word” (NAB, NRSV).

[9:25]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:25]  ³ tn The word “arrives” is added in the translation for clarification.

[9:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “sevens” (also later in this line and in v. 26).

[9:25]  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.

[9:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “it will return and be built.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.

[9:26]  ⁶ sn The expression have nothing is difficult. Presumably it refers to an absence of support or assistance for the anointed one at the time of his “cutting off.” The KJV rendering “but not for himself,” apparently suggesting a vicarious death, cannot be defended.

[9:26]  ⁷ tc Some witnesses (e.g., the Syriac) understand a passive verb and the preposition עִם (’im, “with) rather than the noun עַם (’am, “people”), thus reading “the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed with the coming prince.”

[9:26]  ⁸ tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[9:26]  ⁹ sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.