What Does Daniel 12:7 Mean in the King James?
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse makes the shattering of the set-apart people’s power the point at which the whole hidden sequence reaches its finish.
THE MEANING
The scene addresses you from inside a terrifying limit: the power of the set-apart people is shattered, and all these things reach their finish. The oath holds a measured span and its ending together while naming the violence plainly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that the set-apart people’s visible strength must survive for the promise to reach its end; the verse places the finish at the point where their power is shattered.
THE ROOT
נַפֵּץ
nappets
GROWS FROM
נפץ
To scatter or to shatter, break apart.
The Hebrew verb holds dispersal and violent breakage within the same root. The verse’s “scatter” carries the force of shattering the people’s power, making the violence part of the word itself.
ALSO GROWS
naftsah: Was spread or scattered.
נָפְצָה
This form describes the earth spreading out from Noah’s sons (Genesis 9:19), showing the root’s sense of dispersion.
anappets: I will shatter.
אֲנַפֵּץ
Jeremiah 51:20 uses this same root for breaking nations in pieces, confirming the destructive force carried by Daniel’s verb.
קֹדֶשׁ
qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart, mark as distinct.
“Holy people” names a people marked as set apart. The shattering falls specifically upon those who bear that distinction.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; holy.
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective describes the marked distinction carried by the people in the verse.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary shares the root, showing how the same idea of being set apart can name both a people and a place.
מוֹעֵד
mo'ed
GROWS FROM
יעד
To appoint or designate; to set a time or meeting.
“time” in this verse is mo'ed. The span is introduced as an appointed interval, then cut with “and a half.” The verse binds the crisis to a measure while leaving its ending violent and unmistakable.
ALSO GROWS
ya'ad: To appoint or designate.
יָעַד
This verb carries the root’s sense of setting something for a designated time.
mo'ed: Appointed time; meeting.
מוֹעֵד
The word appears in the verse itself, presenting the duration as a set interval.
THE PATTERN
A violent interval has a boundary: its apparent dominion reaches an appointed finish.
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.THE THREAD
Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;Jeremiah uses the same נ־פ־ץ root when the battle axe shatters nations. The shared verb makes the rupture itself visible in both verses, while each names a different target of its violence.
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