Daniel 12

Daniel Chapter 12

AND AT that time [of the end] Michael shall arise, the great [angelic] prince who defends and has charge of your [Daniel’s] people. And there shall be a time of trouble, straitness, and distress such as never was since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the Book [of God’s plan for His own].

2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt and abhorrence. [John 5:29.]

3 And the teachers and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness (to uprightness and right standing with God) [shall give forth light] like the stars forever and ever. [Matt. 13:43.]

4 But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the Book until the time of the end. [Then] many shall run to and fro and search anxiously [through the Book], and knowledge [of God’s purposes as revealed by His prophets] shall be increased and become great. [Amos 8:12.]

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, there stood two others, the one on the brink of the river on this side and the other on the brink of the river on that side.

6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? [Dan. 10:5.]

7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right and his left hand toward the heavens and swore by Him Who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half a time [or three and one-half years]; and when they have made an end of shattering and crushing the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

8 And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, O my lord, what shall be the issue and final end of these things?

9 And he [the angel] said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end.

10 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be tried, smelted, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but the teachers and those who are wise shall understand. [Dan. 11:33-35.]

11 And from the time that the continual burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. [Dan. 11:31.]

12 Blessed, happy, fortunate, spiritually prosperous, and to be envied is he who waits expectantly and earnestly [who endures without wavering beyond the period of tribulation] and comes to the 1,335 days!

13 But you [Daniel, who was now over ninety years of age], go your way until the end; for you shall rest and shall stand [fast] in your allotted place at the end of the days. [Heb. 11:32-40.]

g Alexander the Great suddenly died at the height of his power, and his empire was divided into four parts—east, west, north, and south—ruled over by his four generals.

h This horn of Dan. 8:9–12 is not to be confused with the “little horn” of Dan. 7:8. This one is a prophetic forecast of Antiochus Epiphanes, who came out of Syria, one of the four dynasties into which Alexander’s empire was divided, and became a great conqueror. Hating God, he profaned the temple and persecuted the Jews terribly. However, he serves as a type of the “little horn” of Dan. 7:8, the even more ruthless beast of the last days (Rev. 13:4–9).

i Compare this verse with Ezek. 14:12–20.

j There are many good reasons for identifying this mighty king as Alexander the Great, as well as identifying the other characters according to their relationship to the events of those times. “But the mere similarity which exists between certain things predicted here and what actually occurred in the times of the Ptolemies of Egypt is not sufficient to limit the fulfillment of the prophecy to those times—certainly [we find here what] was characteristic of Alexander, but there is nothing in the context which makes it necessary to limit the passage to him. Some autocrat may arise ‘in the latter days’ to whom it will apply with greater force than it did to Alexander.” (Charles Ellicott, A Bible Commentary).

k The reference here is undoubtedly to Seleucus Philopator [a king of Syria], the eldest son of Antiochus the Great and his immediate successor (Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament).

l This contemptible conqueror is generally identified as Antiochus Epiphanes, the younger son of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, and is a type of the final antichrist referred to in Dan. 11:36; II Thess. 2:3–12; I John 4:3; II John 7; and Rev. 13:5–8. “He [Antiochus Epiphanes] stirred up the Jews by robbing the temple and setting up a statue of Jupiter in the Holy of Holies. He also pulled down the walls of Jerusalem, commanded the sacrifice of [forbidden] swine, forbade circumcision, and destroyed all the sacred books that could be found” (John D. Davis, A Dictionary of the Bible).

m The antichrist is in view from this point in the prophecy to the end of the chapter. The details listed here do not fit what is known of Antiochus Epiphanes. See II Thess. 2:4; Rev. 13:5–8.

The Amplified Bible. (1987). (Da 8–12:13). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.