The Prophet Daniel
⭑ Catholic Public Domain :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑
- Chapter 9 -
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Gabriel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Footnotes
(a)9:2 Daniel initially thinks he has understood the number of the years as seventy, but later he is told that it is seventy times seven years, or seventy weeks of years.(Conte)
(b)9:4 The word confessus is more literally translated as confessed, but is sometimes also translated as “gave thanks.” Even in English, the word confess can have a range of meanings which includes admitting ones errors and acknowledging God’s greatness (and thus thanking Him).(Conte)
(c)9:11 Stillavit super nos means to fall in drops over us, in other words, to rain down upon us.(Conte)
(d)9:21
The man Gabriel: The angel Gabriel in the shape of a man.(Challoner)
(e)9:23 Sermonem can mean word, but it often refers instead to something more general, to a concept or a message, of some kind.(Conte)
(f)9:23
Man of desires: that is, ardently praying for the Jews then in captivity.(Challoner)
(g)9:24 Literally, “Septuaginta hebdomades” means seventy groups of seven. Here the revelation to Daniel is correcting his misunderstanding; he thought it was seventy years, but the angel informs him it is actually seventy groups of seven (years). The translation uses “weeks of years” because years is clearly implied and because “weeks” is a concise way to say “groups of seven.”(Conte)
(h)9:24
Seventy weeks: Viz., of years, (or seventy times seven, that is, 490 years,) are shortened; that is, fixed and determined, so that the time shall be no longer.(Challoner)
(i)9:25 The “Christum ducem” is quite a striking expression in the Latin; clearly, to a Christian mind, the translation of Christum as Christ is justified. But, in the case of the leader who arrives after only seven weeks of years, this is not Christ himself, but a Christ-like leader (the great monarch). In the case of the leader who arrives after the additional sixty-two weeks of years, again this cannot be Christ himself (since there is still one more week of years to be completed), but again a Christ-like leader (this time it refers to the king of the South, as well as the Pope). Some translations give the weaker and more ambiguous translation of “Anointed one.”(Conte)
(j)9:25
From the going forth of the word, etc: That is, from the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes, when by his commandment Nehemias rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, 2 Esd. 2. From which time, according to the best chronology, there were just sixty-nine weeks of years, that is, 483 years to the baptism of Christ, when he first began to preach and execute the office of Messias.(Challoner)
(k)9:25
In straitness oftimes: angustia temporum: which may allude both to the difficulties and opposition they met with in building: and to the shortness of thet ime in which they finished the wall, viz., fifty-two days.(Challoner)
(l)9:26 Again, the Christus who is killed is not Christ himself. Rather, this text refers to the king of the South, a Christian, a Christ-leader, the king of the last bastion of Christianity, the only one of the ten kingdoms that still tolerates Christianity. He is defeated in battle, because of betrayal or denial by some persons, but not by any people who are Christians. Some non-Christians betray him. Then the Antichrist and his people arrive in the Holy Land of Israel and destroy the city and the sanctuary. They also kill the Pope of that time, another Christ-leader. The desolation is the abomination of desolation, which begins at this time, but does not reach its full power until the last half of the Antichrist’s reign.(Conte)
(m)9:26
A people with their leader: The Romans under Titus.(Challoner)
(n)9:27 The phrase “hostia et sacrificium” could also be translated as “sacrifice and offering.” The phrase “abominatio desolationis” could also be rendered as “the detestable thing of abandonment.” From a Catholic perspective, the first phrase clearly refers to the Eucharist and the sacrifice of the Mass. Thus, the abomination of desolation is a perverse imitation of the Eucharist and the Mass, a false Eucharist, which continues for about three and one half years, even until the end of the Passion and Crucifixion of the Church and the end of the reign of sin on earth.(Conte)
(o)9:27
In the half of the week: or, in the middle of the week, etc. Because Christ preached three years and a half: and then by his sacrifice upon the cross abolished all the sacrifices of the law.(Challoner)
(p)9:27
The abomination of desolation: Some understand this of the profanation of the temple by the crimes of the Jews, and by the bloody faction of the zealots. Others of the bringing in thither the ensigns and standard of the pagan Romans. Others, in fine, distinguish three different times of desolation: viz., that under Antiochus; that when the temple was destroyed by the Romans; and the last near the end of the world under Antichrist. To all which, as they suppose, this prophecy may have a relation.(Challoner)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Gabriel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Footnotes
(a)9:2 “Yahweh” is God’s proper Name, sometimes rendered “LORD” (all caps) in other translations.
(b)9:25 “Anointed One” can also be translated “Messiah” (same as “Christ”).
(c)9:26 “Anointed One” can also be translated “Messiah” (same as “Christ”).