Daniel 9:25 has been a bit of an intriguing language puzzle, since in ancient times they didn't use punctuation marks.
The verse runs in Hebrew:
ותדע ותשכל מן־מצא דבר להשיב ולבנות ירושלם עד־משיח נגיד שבעים שבעה ושבעים ששים ושנים תשוב ונבנתה רחוב וחרוץ ובצוק העתים׃
Word for word, this says something like:
------------------------------------------------------
Therefore know and understand
From the going forth of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem until Moshiach Prince
weeks seven and weeks sixty and two
again and shall be built the street and the wall
and even in troublesome times
------------------------------------------------------------
But putting this into coherent sentences is tricky.
The sentence seems to contain duality:
- "Know and understand"
- The Command is to "restore and build"
- "From the command... until Moshiach Prince" gives two endpoints.
- "Moshiach Prince" is a dual term
- "7 weeks and 62 weeks" is dual
- "The street and the wall"
- The street and wall are built "again", meaning that this is a rebuilding, or a building of Jerusalem a "second time" in a sense.
The fragmentary Dead Sea Scrolls' version and sloppy "Old Greek" version of Daniel 9:25-26 aren't very helpful.
Opposing sets of sentence constructions can be suggested from
(A) The Masoretic punctuation, NRSV, and JPT, and
(B) Theodotion's Jewish 2nd century AD Greek translation, Jerome's Latin Vulgate, and the KJV.
I am wondering if the Hebrew is ambiguous enough to give rise to both of those opposing constructions.
Question: Is the JPT/NRSV construction of "And 62 weeks shall be built the street and the wall" super awkward grammatically in Hebrew? In English, one would have to add in words like "during" or "for" to make that sentence work. English would require saying: "And during/for 62 weeks, the street and the wall shall be built."
The verse runs in Hebrew:
ותדע ותשכל מן־מצא דבר להשיב ולבנות ירושלם עד־משיח נגיד שבעים שבעה ושבעים ששים ושנים תשוב ונבנתה רחוב וחרוץ ובצוק העתים׃
Word for word, this says something like:
------------------------------------------------------
Therefore know and understand
From the going forth of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem until Moshiach Prince
weeks seven and weeks sixty and two
again and shall be built the street and the wall
and even in troublesome times
------------------------------------------------------------
But putting this into coherent sentences is tricky.
The sentence seems to contain duality:
- "Know and understand"
- The Command is to "restore and build"
- "From the command... until Moshiach Prince" gives two endpoints.
- "Moshiach Prince" is a dual term
- "7 weeks and 62 weeks" is dual
- "The street and the wall"
- The street and wall are built "again", meaning that this is a rebuilding, or a building of Jerusalem a "second time" in a sense.
The fragmentary Dead Sea Scrolls' version and sloppy "Old Greek" version of Daniel 9:25-26 aren't very helpful.
Opposing sets of sentence constructions can be suggested from
(A) The Masoretic punctuation, NRSV, and JPT, and
(B) Theodotion's Jewish 2nd century AD Greek translation, Jerome's Latin Vulgate, and the KJV.
I am wondering if the Hebrew is ambiguous enough to give rise to both of those opposing constructions.
Question: Is the JPT/NRSV construction of "And 62 weeks shall be built the street and the wall" super awkward grammatically in Hebrew? In English, one would have to add in words like "during" or "for" to make that sentence work. English would require saying: "And during/for 62 weeks, the street and the wall shall be built."
