The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered

The Seventy “Sevens”

²⁰ While I was speaking and praying, confessing^(A) my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill^(B)— ²¹ while I was still in prayer, Gabriel,^(C) the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.^{(D) 22} He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding.^{(E) 23} As soon as you began to pray,^(F) a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.^(G) Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:^(H)

²⁴ “Seventy ‘sevens’^[a] are decreed for your people and your holy city^(I) to finish^[b] transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone^(J) for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness,^(K) to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.^[c]

²⁵ “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild^(L) Jerusalem until the Anointed One,^[d](M) the ruler,^(N) comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.^{(O) 26} After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death^(P) and will have nothing.^[e] The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood:^(Q) War will continue until the end, and desolations^(R) have been decreed.^{(S) 27} He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’^[f] In the middle of the ‘seven’^[g] he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple^[h] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed^(T) is poured out on him.^[i]”^[j]

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom^(A) prepared for you since the creation of the world.^(B)

²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge;^(A) and you, with the help of wicked men,^[a] put him to death by nailing him to the cross.^{(B) 24} But God raised him from the dead,^(C) freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.^(D)