Daniel 9:24-27

Seventy Weeks and the Abomination of Desolation

by Joe Haynes

Posted on October 17, 2024

Translation of Daniel 9:24-27 with study notes and the Hebrew Text for Reference

See the bold phrases in the notes below for explanatory notes.

Seventy weeks. Literally "seventy sevens."

Your people and your holy city. The Jews and Jerusalem.

Anoint the Most Holy. The word anoint is mashach, an idea that is repeated in the next verse with the mention of the "anointed one," Messiah, or mashiach in Hebrew. I've added the word, "the" to "the Most Holy," because the context does point to a specific object of the anointing. However, the NASB adds the word, "place." The Hebrew reads simply, "to anoint Most Holy."

Messiah the Ruler. The prophecy says an Anointed One is coming, lit. “the Messiah,” already anticipated in verse 24, where the Most Holy is anointed, who is here called “the Prince” (NASB) a word that also means “Ruler.”

Seven weeks, then sixty-two weeks. 69 weeks in total (most of the 70 weeks mentioned in verse 24), but by the time of the last 62 of 69 weeks, even though Jerusalem will be rebuilt, it will be “a troubled time”—as the period between the Old and New Testaments certainly was. What about the 70th week? It’s the subject of the next verse.

After the sixty-two weeks. Meaning after the total (seven weeks and sixty-two weeks), i.e., in the 70th week.

Cut off and have nothing. I.e., Messiah will be killed and have nothing, as Isaiah 53:8-12 predicts. C.f., John 1:11.

The coming Ruler. That is, the Messiah’s “people,” the Jews (see also verse 24). C.f. John 1:11. The Jews were “his own people.”

Will corrupt. The word translated “destroy” by the NASB, frequently means “corrupt,” in a moral and spiritual sense. E.g.:

§  Gen 6:12 - And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. (Gen. 6:12 ESV)

§  Zeph 3:7 - I said, 'Surely you will fear me; you will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you.' But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. (Zeph. 3:7 ESV)

§  beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, (Deut. 4:16 ESV)

§   "When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger, (Deut. 4:25 ESV)

§  Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. (Isa. 1:4 ESV)

§  They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron; all of them act corruptly. (Jer. 6:28 ESV)

§  But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. (Jdg. 2:19 ESV)

The city and sanctuary. Jerusalem and the Temple. Following Jesus’ announcement in Mat 23:38 and 24:2, His prophecy in Mat 24:4-21 predicts this “flood” of events that led to the total destruction of the city and sanctuary.

One week. I.e., the 70th week. The number one with the noun week specifies this will happen at that time, not necessarily for that length of time.

The many. See Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24. Christ made a strong covenant with many.

The middle of the week. Again, the word for half also means middle, so that it specifies in the middle, not necessarily for half that time. (See Ex 12:29, Ju 16:3, 16:3, Ru 3:8 for other examples of this usage.) From Artaxerxes’ decree (see Ezra 7:12-26), in the year 458 BC, 490 years (70 “sevens” of years) comes to 33AD, the year many scholars believe Jesus Christ was crucified. This possibility would place the death of Jesus in the 490th year from the decree of 458 BC and therefore still “in the midst of” the “one week” (the seventieth week) specified in verse 27. On the other hand, it is also possible the Lord was crucified in the year 30AD, which would place His death right in the middle of the seventieth week—a solution that fits the words of verse 27 exactly.

Sacrifice and offering. See Hebrews 10:8-18. When Christ was “cut off”, His sacrifice means there is no longer any offering for sin (Heb 10:18); He has “done away with” sacrifice and offering forever (Heb 10:9b).

Abominations causing desolation. The abominations are the cause of the desolations God decreed in the same sense that Jesus says to Jerusalem, “See your house is left to you desolate,” because “you were not willing,” (Mat 23:38, 37).

That is decreed. See Lev 26:31-33; 2 Chronicles 36:14-21 (compare Mat 21:34-41; 22:5-7). C.f. 1 Ki 9:6-9; Jer 22:5-9.

The desolator. There are two possible meanings of this. A) The “desolator” is Israel, as in Dan 9:11 (c.f. Dan 9:4-19 for the whole prayer of confession where Daniel blames Israel for the desolation God brought). B) The “desolator” refers to Rome as the instrument of God’s judgment, promising that God will, in turn, punish Rome as well. I lean toward the first of these two possibilities.

Paraphrase

With the above considerations in mind, I offer this paraphrase (not a translation). Nehemiah 8:8 says, "[The Levites] read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading," (Neh. 8:8 ESV). That's what I'm trying to do in giving this paraphrase of Daniel 9:24-27.

Your people and the holy city (the Jews and Jerusalem) have a final deadline of 490 years in which to finish the transgression, to seal sins, to atone for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy, or else! 

So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed Ruler comes, there will be 49 years then 434 years--49 years of rebuilding including plaza and moat, then it will endure 434 years of distress.

Then after the 483 years, the Messiah will be killed and have nothing and His own people, the Jews, will corrupt Jerusalem and the Temple. Jerusalem's end will come like a flood; it will end in war. Desolations are decreed by God.

During the next 7 years, the Messiah will make a strong covenant with many, and in the midst of that 7-year-period, when He is killed, He will abolish sacrifices and offerings once and for all. After that, because of the extreme abominations of the Jews, desolation will be poured out on them.

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