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Daniel 9:25 Translation

QUESTION: I have noticed that there are many differences between Jewish Bible translations of Daniel 9:25-26 and several different Christian Bible translations. What should be the correct readings of the disputed words and phrases?

ANSWER:

In our study of the different translations we will compare the Hebrew text with |that of the King James Version of the Bible. It contains the grossest errors, which are, in |whole or in part, duplicated by other Christian versions of the Bible.

First, the King James Version puts a definite article before “Messiah the Prince” (9:25). |The original Hebrew text does not read “the   Messiah the Prince,” but, having no article, |it is to be rendered “a mashiach  [“anointed one,” “messiah”], a prince,” i.e., Cyrus |(Isaiah 45:1, 13; Ezra 1:1-2).

The word mashiach  is nowhere used in the Jewish Scriptures as a proper name, but as a |title of authority of a king or a high priest. Therefore, a correct rendering of the original |Hebrew should be: “an anointed one, a prince.”

Second, the King James Version disregards the Hebrew punctuation. The punctuation |mark ‘atnach functions as the main pause within a sentence. The ‘atnach is the appropriate |equivalent of the semicolon in the modern system of punctuation. It thus has the effect of |separating the seven weeks from the sixty-two weeks: “. . . until an anointed one, a |prince, shall be seven weeks; then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again . . .” (9:25).

By creating a sixty-nine week period, which is not divided into two separate periods of |seven weeks and sixty-two weeks respectively, Christians reach an incorrect conclusion, |i.e., that the Messiah will come 483 years after the destruction of the First Temple.

Some Christians claim that there is something called a “prophetic year” of 360 days, thus |shortening the interval between the beginning of the 483 years which they claim began in |444 B.C.E., and the date of the crucifixion of Jesus. They do this in order to make the |dates coincide, but the claim of a “prophetic year” is without any scriptural foundation.

Third, the King James Version omits the definite article in Daniel 9:26, which should |read: “And after the threescore and two weeks. . . .” By treating the sixty-two weeks as a |distinct period, this verse, in the original Hebrew, shows that the sixty-two weeks |mentioned in verse 25 are correctly separated from the seven weeks by the ‘atnach. |Hence, two anointed ones are spoken of in this chapter, one of whom comes after seven |weeks (Cyrus), and the other after a further period of sixty-two weeks (Alexander |Yannai).

Fourth, the words v’ayn lo (9:26) are incorrectly translated by the King James Version as |”but not for himself.” They should be translated as “he has nothing” or “he shall have |nothing.” There are Christian commentators who maintain this phrase has both meanings, |but that claim cannot be supported grammatically.