This article is contributed by Ray Konig, the author of Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Prophet, Jesus the Miracle Worker, and 100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies.
By Ray Konig
Published: August 17, 2024
Question: A reader asks: "Is Daniel's 70 Weeks prophecy talking about a period of time of 490 years or 490 days? How can we know which one it is talking about?"
Response: The prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27, which is known as the Seventy Weeks or Seventy Sevens prophecy, is talking about years. We know this because the verses in Daniel 9:1-23, which provide the context for this prophecy, are talking about a period of time that involves years. We also know that in Daniel 10:2, where Daniel again is using the Hebrew word that is translated as week, or as seven, he adds the Hebrew word for days, within the underlying Hebrew text, because there he is talking about days, rather than years. And some scholars believe that the Hebrew word for week or seven, which appears in Daniel 9:24-27 and Daniel 10:2, is being used to refer to a week of years, as in a seven-year period, in Genesis 29:27-28.
The prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 is explained extensively in my book, Jesus the Messiah, which is available through amazon.com. I also have online articles explaining this prophecy at:
The Messiah would appear 483 years after a call to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
How do we know that Daniel 9:24-27 is a prophecy about the Messiah?
Is Daniel 9:24-27 a prophecy about the Messiah or about two lesser messiahs?
Many scholars and commentators, within both Christianity and Judaism, view Daniel 9:24-27 as speaking about years, rather than days. This includes people who take a Messianic view of Daniel 9:24-27 and those who do not.
Here is the prophecy, as translated by the World English Bible:
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
25 “Know therefore and discern that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.
26 After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will be with a flood, and war will be even to the end. Desolations are determined.
27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, wrath will be poured out on the desolate.” (Daniel 9:24-27, WEB)
This prophecy was received by the prophet Daniel about 2,500 years ago. It predicts monumental historical and spiritual events, including the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which had been destroyed earlier by the Babylonians, as well as the arrival of an Anointed One -- the Messiah -- who would be "cut off," as in rejected and executed, within a 490-year period, beginning with a command to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem.
As explained in the article at The Messiah would appear 483 years after a call to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, this prophecy accurately predicted the time in which Jesus was anointed by God as the savior of the world (John 1:29-34) and began his public ministry as the Messiah.
We know that Daniel 9:24-27 is talking about years because Daniel 9:1-23 is talking about years. Verses 1-23 involve Daniel fasting and praying to God, looking for an insight as to what will become of his people, who were living as captive exiles in Babylon, while their homeland of Israel, including the city of Jerusalem, was still in ruins, having been destroyed by the Babylonians about 2,600 years ago. Verses 24-27 comprise the answer that Daniel receives from God, via the angel Gabriel.
Also, in Daniel 10:2, Daniel again uses the Hebrew word sabua, which is the same word that he uses in Daniel 9:24-27, and is translated into English as week or seven. In Daniel 10:2, however, within the underlying Hebrew text, Daniel also adds the Hebrew word for days, making it clear that he is speaking about days, rather than years, in Daniel 10:2. He does not add the word for days in Daniel 9:24-27, where the context (Daniel 9:1-23) has already established that Daniel is speaking about years, rather than days, in Daniel 9.
© 2024 Ray Konig.
Ray Konig is the author of Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Prophet, Jesus the Miracle Worker, and 100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies.