Daniel 9 Introduction

Structure and Formatting

1. Daniel prays, based on Jeremiah’s prophecy, that God will restore Jerusalem (1–19) 2. Gabriel comes and explains a further meaning of Jeremiah’s prophecy (20–27)

Translation issues in this chapter

What are the “seventy sevens” that Gabriel describes (9:24)?

The Hebrew word for “seven” can also mean a “week,” that is, a period of seven days, and so some translators say “seventy weeks” here. Some interpreters understand the term in this context to mean a “week of years,” that is, seven years, and so some translations say “490 years.” However, these meanings are not certain. It is also possible that the number seven is being used to symbolize completeness rather than to indicate a specific total of years. So we encourage translators to use general expressions that allow for the range of possible interpretations rather than naming a specific total such as 490. The UST models one way to do this. It translates “seventy sevens” as “seventy sets of seven time periods.”