Yeremia 33:3

33:3 ‘Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious ¹  things which you still do not know about.’

Yehezkiel 36:37

36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: ²  I will multiply their people like sheep. ³ 

Daniel 2:18

2:18 He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he ⁴  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 9:2-3

9:2 in the first year of his reign ⁵  I, Daniel, came to understand from the sacred books ⁶  that, according to the word of the LORD ⁷  disclosed to the prophet Jeremiah, the years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem ⁸  were seventy in number. 9:3 So I turned my attention ⁹  to the Lord God ¹⁰  to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ¹¹ 

Daniel 9:24-27

9:24 “Seventy weeks ¹²  have been determined

concerning your people and your holy city

to put an end to ¹³  rebellion,

to bring sin ¹⁴  to completion, ¹⁵ 

to atone for iniquity,

to bring in perpetual ¹⁶  righteousness,

to seal up ¹⁷  the prophetic vision, ¹⁸ 

and to anoint a most holy place. ¹⁹ 

9:25 So know and understand:

From the issuing of the command ²⁰  to restore and rebuild

Jerusalem ²¹  until an anointed one, a prince arrives, ²² 

there will be a period of seven weeks ²³  and sixty-two weeks.

It will again be built, ²⁴  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. ²⁵ 

As for the city and the sanctuary,

the people of the coming prince will destroy ²⁶  them.

But his end will come speedily ²⁷  like a flood. ²⁸ 

Until the end of the war that has been decreed

there will be destruction.

9:27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. ²⁹ 

But in the middle of that week

he will bring sacrifices and offerings to a halt.

On the wing ³⁰  of abominations will come ³¹  one who destroys,

until the decreed end is poured out on the one who destroys.”

Markus 11:24

11:24 For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

[33:3]  ¹ tn This passive participle or adjective is normally used to describe cities or walls as “fortified” or “inaccessible.” All the lexicons, however, agree in seeing it used here metaphorically of “secret” or “mysterious” things, things that Jeremiah could not know apart from the Lord’s revelation. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 170) make the interesting observation that the word is used here in a context in which the fortifications of Jerusalem are about to fall to the Babylonians; the fortified things in God’s secret counsel fall through answer to prayer.

[36:37]  ² tn The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”

[36:37]  ³ sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Aram “Daniel.” The proper name is redundant here in English, and has not been included in the translation.

[9:2]  ⁵ tc This phrase, repeated from v. 1, is absent in Theodotion.

[9:2]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text has “books”; the word “sacred” has been added in the translation to clarify that it is Scriptures that are referred to.

[9:2]  ⁷ sn The tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters which constitute the divine Name, YHWH) appears eight times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the book of Daniel.

[9:2]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “face.”

[9:3]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew phrase translated “Lord God” here is אֲדֹנָי הָאֱלֹהִים (’adonay ha’elohim).

[9:3]  ¹¹ sn When lamenting, ancient Israelites would fast, wear sackcloth, and put ashes on their heads to show their sorrow and contrition.

[9:24]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tc The present translation reads the Qere (singular), rather than the Kethib (plural).

[9:24]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Or “everlasting.”

[9:24]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “vision and prophecy.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[9:24]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Or “decree” (NASB, NIV); or “word” (NAB, NRSV).

[9:25]  ²¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:25]  ²² tn The word “arrives” is added in the translation for clarification.

[9:25]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “it will return and be built.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.

[9:26]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[9:26]  ²⁸ sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.

[9:27]  ²⁹ tn Heb “one seven” (also later in this line).

[9:27]  ³⁰ tn The referent of the Hebrew word כְּנַף (kÿnaf, “wing”) is unclear here. The LXX and Theodotion have “the temple.” Some English versions (e.g., NAB, NIV) take this to mean “a wing of the temple,” but this is not clear.

[9:27]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew text does not have this verb, but it has been supplied in the translation for clarity.