24 Sevens¹ Seventy² are decreed over your people and over your holy city, to end the transgression³, even to seal up Sinª, and to wipe out iniquityⁿ, and to bring in righteousness enduring to times most immemorialº, and to perfect¹ the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the holy of holies².

(MISB: Dan. 9:24): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/daniel.html#9:24

http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html

 1. A “seven” is a sabbatical year: Deut. 15:9, “year of the seven, year of the release”; Deut 31:10, “After the boundary of the seven years, in the set time of the year of the release, in the Feast of Booths...”; Lev. 25:8, “count off seven sabbath years for yourself, seven years seven times...”. Deut. 15:9 makes it clear that “seven” referred to the sabbath year itself, and not just to a seven year period. Thus, “seven years” can mean “seventh years” or it may mean one period of seven years. For example, consider a span of 15 years, the first being sabbatical and the 8th and 15th being sabbatical. Saying this period has “three sevens” means the same thing as “three seventh years”. This usage is also seen in 2Kings 12:1, “In year seven of Jehu”, and Ezek. 30:20, “in seven of the month”, and Ezek. 45:20, “in seven in the month”; 2Ki. 16:1, “in the year of seven ten, year of Pekah”. These usages show that it is not necessary to use an ordinal form like שְׁבִיעִי to express “seventh”. The cardinal שֶׁבַע is sufficient. So “Sevens Seventy” means “Seventy Sabbatical years”

 2. The 70 years are from Dan. 9:2, which were seventy sabbatical years that Israel and Judah broke (cf. 2Chron. 36:21; Lev. 26:34, 43). The 70 year exile was the punishment for the Sabbatical years (cf. Jer. 29:10), but there must be a sevenfold aspect to the punishment (cf. Lev. 26:18, 21, 24, 28). The punishment and delay of the kingdom is to be measured by “seventy sevens”, which is to say, 70 actual sabbatical years, as the 70 year exile only contained 10. So the kingdom is to be delayed 70 x 7. Daniel would have to wait longer.

 3. This refers to the sin of Israel and Judah, which will reach its climax in the end time when the many who insincerely joined Israel and Judah will apostatize and join with the anti-Messiah. Yeshua will put down this rebellion with his coming.

 a. The written Hebrew text reads, “seal up Sin” here. The to be read: “end, finish” sin is not correct. The Qere was added only because the text was not understood. “Sin” here means Satan, the one who causes the rebellion. He will be chained up and locked in the abyss, and thus will be literally “sealed up”! See Rev. 20:3, “And he cast him into the abyss, and he shut and sealed it over him”.

 n. First Yeshua will make the sacrifice to forgive iniquity (wipe out the penalty) for those who repent, and then he will wipe out iniquity, that is, he will cleanse it from the land of Israel (Zech. 3:9; Lev. 16:30) and indeed the whole world. The word “atonement” means to wipe away or to expiate. For the repentant who trust in Messiah, the penalty is wiped away. For the unrepentant who remain at the end of days, they will be cleansed away, i.e. wiped out of the kingdom.

 o. The long phrase enduring to times most immemorial is simply the Hebrew way of expressing the longest of times, undoubtedly “everlasting righteousness” in this case. The prophecy pertains to Daniel’s people and to Jerusalem. So the fact that Satan gets released after 1000 years to deceive the nations does not affect this. Jerusalem and Israel remain righteous during that rebellion. This one phrase is absolute proof that we have not yet reached the end of the 70th seven. It destroys the higher critical interpretations of Daniel 9, and also the Preterist/Reformed Church explanations, and all the explanations of Judaism. They are all exposed as heresies by this one phrase. Israel and Jerusalem have not yet come into a state of “everlasting righteousness”.

 1. The MT is here faulty. The correct reading is preserved in the LXX, “complete, finish” = “συντελεσθῆναι”. The MT was altered by connecting a small gap in one letter to make another. The LXX shows that the original was: וּלְהָתֵם vs. the MT: וְלַחְתֹּם. When it comes to Messianic Prophecy and comparison with available DSS documents, the LXX has a consistent track record of coming out the winner when the underlying difference in the Hebrew text is a very minor mistake or change, often just one letter. If they who cannot understand the Kethib “to seal up Sin” in the former clause must change it with a Qere, then we are more than justified with following the lead of the LXX here (the LXX simply represents a pre-Masoretic Hebrew text). So then, why would the text have been edited to say “seal up the vision and the prophecy”? Because, after Daniel 9 was used to prove that Yeshua was the Messiah, the Rabbis decided that the book of Daniel must be “sealed up”, and that means not letting Jewish people read the book. The only problem here is that the book is not to be sealed up for the whole of the seventy sevens. It is only to be sealed until the time of the end (Dan. 12:4; 12:9). The seal on this prophecy was first broken when Yeshua died, further with the giving of Revelation, and will be finally removed before the end of the 70th 7. Therefore, the text here means “perfect, complete, finish” the vision and the prophecy. The 70th Seven marks the endpoint of Daniel’s prophecies.

 2. In the time of the end, the temple will be rebuilt, probably well before the 70th 7 begins. It must be to fulfill Daniel 8 and passages in Revelation. During the 42 months of the anti-Messiah, the Temple will be defiled, and will have to be cleansed and re-anointed. After that anointing, the temple will never again be defiled. Then Israel will be able to bring whole-ascending worship offerings, peace offerings, grain offerings, and ritual cleansing offerings (hattat), and the nations will be able to bring offerings for sins of ignorance, after they repent and Messiah Yeshua atones for their transgressions and iniquities so that they can re-enter the covenant. For it was Yah’s intent that the Levitical Service deal with ritual matters and sins of ignorance, and that Messiah should deal with sins of rebellion, transgressions, and iniquities. In this age Messiah must cover sins of ignorance too, but in the age to come, with respect to the nations entering the covenant via Messiah’s blood the sins of ignorance will be properly atoned by the Levitical Service. Israel and Judah, on the other hand, will be perfected, and will have need only of a ritual cleansing hattat (cf. Ezek. 45:17) because Yeshua will have cleansed Israel from all sin.

25 So you should know and you should discern that from the going out of a word to return and to build Jerusalem¹ until Prince Messiah² there will be sevens seven³ and sevens sixty and twoª. She will return and she will be built broad and zealously, and in the distress of the times. 26 Then afterº the sevens sixty and two Messiah will be cut off, and none for him; and the city and the sanctuary it will make ruined—the people of a prince¹—the coming, and his end is in the flood; and as far as the end war is decided causing desolation,

(MISB: Dan. 9:25): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/daniel.html#9:25

http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html

 1. The “word to rebuild Jerusalem” was given in the 20th year of Artaxerxes (445 BC). This date is confirmed by an astronomical tablet (VAT 5047); also by Parker and Dubberstein. The Rabbis attack this identification by saying that Artaxerxes is not Cyrus. But they deceive. Isa. 45:4 identifies “Cyrus” as a “surname, title”, כָּנָה (Langenscheidt). It is also a “throne name” (Lexicon In Veteris Testamenti Libros). And Josephus specifically calls this king “Cyrus” (Ant. 11:184). Persian kings had multiple throne titles. Which one got used depended on circumstances, and which ones made it into the history books as official designations depended on preferences of the historians. It is certain that this king is titled Cyrus based on the fact that he is the only one to give word for Jerusalem to be rebuilt as prophesied in Isaiah 44:28, along with Cambyses also titled Cyrus by Daniel (Dan. 1:21; 6:28; 10:1) who let the people go and gave orders to rebuild the temple in the 70th year of the Captivity (529 BC).

 2. The Rabbis want you to believe that “Messiah Prince” is an anointed prince, and cannot be the Messiah because the text lacks the word “the”. However, the word “prince” is an adjective. Adjectives are normally placed after the nouns they modify in Hebrew. So the sense in English is, Prince Messiah, and it becomes obvious that no article is needed.

 3. These are seven sabbatical years. The first is 445/444 BC immediately after Nehemiah finishes the walls. The seventh sabbatical year is 403/402. Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 397 and finished his work in one year, i.e. 397/396. He finished in exactly 49 years from the date of the decree to rebuild the city (445-396=49). The Church does not know this because they have the order of Ezra and Nehemiah mixed up. But it does explain the seven sevens, and the mistaken order was pointed out by The Companion Bible in 1888. Here is the chart: http://www.torahtimes.org/book/page5-6.pdf

 a. Refer to the chart above. After Ezra count sixty-two more sabbatical years. This brings us to AD 32/33 which is the 62nd sabbatical year, or adding the first seven also, the 69th sabbath year.

 o. It says “after” the 62 7’s that Messiah will be cut off. This means right after AD 32/33, which is the 62nd Sabbatical year from Ezra, and the 69th sabbatical year from Nehemiah’s building of the walls. In AD 34, Yeshua was cut off. He died on the 4th day of the week, and rose three days later on the Sabbath. The Passion week diagram is also contained in the above link. So we see that Daniel 9 follows a straightforward counting of Sabbatical years, “sevens” from the rebuilding of the city. And the straightforward explanation of the first “seven sevens” is that they pertain to Ezra.

 1. Titus destroyed the temple and the city in AD 70, and the people were the Romans. However, the identity of the prince merges into the anti-Messiah that is coming, and the people will be those of New Babylon, and the anti-Messiah the King of Babylon. What we should notice here is that AD 70 is well after the 69th sabbatical year. What has happened is that the clock has been stopped for 2000 years. This clock stopping is not unusual because an investigation of the 70 sabbatical years that Israel broke will show that they broke some, then kept some, then broke some more, and then kept some. The clock was also stopped at 66 years on Babylonian Hegemony (604-539 BC), saving 3 1/2 years for the end time to complete the rule of Babylon. Could the Almighty stop the clock again, and extend the age past 2000 years from the 69th seven? Yes, but if He does not, then the age will end on the next Jubilee.

27 but he makes strong¹ a covenant² of the many seven one³, and amid the sevenª he makes cease sacrifice and grain-offeringⁿ, and on a wing abominations making desolateº— even until an end that is decided will be  poured out upon the desolater¹.

(MISB: Dan. 9:27): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/daniel.html#9:27

http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html

 1. What is the antecedent of “he” here? Is it the prince mentioned in vs. 26 or is it the people of the prince? (In which case, it would have to be translated “it”) Or is it Messiah? We have to rule Messiah out since Yeshua does not make a covenant limited to seven years, nor does he make the Levitical Service to cease (cf. Jer. 33:17-22). So is it the people of the prince or the prince? The Romans under Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70, but neither made a seven year covenant. The Temple was destroyed in year 2 of the Sabbath cycle, so sort of in the middle, but not exactly. So what Titus and the Romans did does not qualify for people and prince as the most literal fulfillment. The literal fulfillment lies in the future. It will be the King of Babylon, who revives the seven Empires under his throne. He will be the anti-Messiah, the man of sin. We should be prepared for the possibility that the anti-Messiah does not announce a seven year covenant. He will announce an eternal one, or a 1000 year one like Hitler. But it will only last seven years, and he will only make his promises good after 3 1/2 years, since he only gains Empire for 42 months.

 2. Do we assume this covenant has anything to do with Torah? The Church would like to think the anti-Christ rebuilds the Temple. But this is just ad hoc interpretation based on theological presupposition that Messiah is done with the Levitical Service. Jer. 33:17-22 says otherwise. It is more likely that the anti-Messiah will be making a covenant with the world, and that he hates Israel. So why help Israel build the Temple? That’s the last thing he wants to do since it bears witness against him. It is quite likely that the Temple will be rebuilt by Israel some time before this last seven years even begins, and that the anti-Messiah will find the Temple Service a roadblock in his plans for world domination.

 3. Pardon the slavish literal translation of the Hebrew, but the reason few can understand these prophecies has to do with concealing the exact form of it from just about everyone. “One seven”; the word seven here is shavuah, which is different from the form of the word earlier in the passage. It includes a plene waw, marked in red: שָׁבוּעַ. The other usages mean both sabbatical years and sabbatical periods. Here it means only sabbatical period. To be sure the sabbatical period has a sabbatical year at the end of it. Years are understood from Dan. 9:2, and the Angel of Yahweh told Daniel 7 x 70, to remind him that all Israel has sevenfold judgment for failure to keep 70 sabbatical years (cf. Lev. 26:18, 21, 24, 28.) So at the beginning of a cycle, the anti-Messiah will rise up and covenant with the world.

 a. This can be pinned down quite a bit more precisely from other information. First, it has to be a real sabbatical period, on the same cycle that Israel used (which also counts 7 year cycles from creation and the settlement of the land). And it has to be the seventh cycle ending in a sabbatical year followed by a Jubilee year. For the cycle is followed by the end of the age, which happens at the “last trumpet”, and this is on Yom Kippur and only happens to announce the Jubilee. The next Jubilee is 2035/36 AD, and the seventh cycle is 2028-2035 AD. So the year 2032 AD marks the middle. If the end occurs in the next cycle, that’s when it will be. Can’t say for sure, but looks real probable.

 n. Here is a popular theory: Messiah died in the middle of the week on Wednesday and ended the sacrificial system; the only problem is that it did not actually end. One thing about Messianic Prophecy is that when it comes true, it comes literally true. It does not come true in some weirdo symbolical sense that has to be tea-leaved out of the text. That Yeshua ended the offerings is wishful thinking on the part of Christians that do not understand Torah. Yeshua was not a replacement offering. Yeshua was the missing offering. The Levitical Service atoned for sins of ignorance and circumstance. What was missing? Atonement for serious sins called “transgressions” and “iniquities”. For on Yom Kippur no offering was slain to forgive these sins. They were just carried away from the camp. The actual forgiveness (in the formal sense) had to await Messiah. So the Levitical Service still has a use (cf. Jer. 33:17-22 and Ezek. 40-48).

 o. Like the King of the North, Antiochus, the end time King of the North (a.k.a. King of Babylon) will cause the Temple Service to come to a halt. First he will get control of the Temple. Then a bit later the abomination of desolation, and then a bit later the vision of the evenings and mornings will come true (1150 days in all). From the start of it to the end of it will be 42 months, a time, times, and half a time.

 1. The anti-Messiah will face the year of Yah’s wrath for his destruction of humanity. First the trumpets, then the bowls. New Babylon will go up in age abiding smoke. The armies of heaven and Israel will combine and come from the wilderness led by Messiah Yeshua. They will be killed at Megiddo and Edom will become their grave. The kingdoms of the world will become the kingdoms of Messiah Yeshua. Thus Yahweh will be King over all the earth, and His name the only name.