What Does Daniel 9:25 Mean in the King James?
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
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
Restoring Jerusalem is a return that becomes visible construction: the city is brought back toward wholeness through streets and walls, even under pressure.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you of return taking concrete shape: Jerusalem is rebuilt with streets and a wall while the times remain troubled. The command, the anointed prince, and the measured weeks hold that rebuilding within a direction and a span.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that rebuilding must wait until conditions are calm; the city takes shape even in troublous times.
THE ROOT
לְהָשִׁיב
lehashiv
GROWS FROM
שׁוב
sh-w-b
To turn back or return; in this form, to cause to return, bring back.
“restore” in this verse is lehashiv. The command carries return inside restoration: Jerusalem is brought back into its place. The same root can name both turning away and turning back, so restoration answers departure at its source.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To return or turn back.
שׁוּב
It makes restoration a movement back toward what has been left.
meshubah: Turning away; backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch names the departure that return reverses.
לִבְנוֹת
livnot
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
To build or establish.
“build” in this verse is livnot. The return does not stay an inward idea: it takes form in a rebuilt city, with a street and a wall. The verse binds being brought back to the work of establishing what can stand.
ALSO GROWS
boneh: Builder; one who builds.
בֹּנֶה
The verb here points toward an act of making the returned city stand.
binyan: Building or structure.
בִּנְיָן
This branch makes visible the concrete form that restoration takes.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
sh-l-m
Wholeness; being complete.
Jerusalem’s name carries shalom, wholeness, so the place being rebuilt is named for wholeness. The verse joins that name to actual streets and a wall: wholeness has a place and takes visible form.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness.
שָׁלוֹם
It reveals the quality carried in Jerusalem’s name.
shalem: Whole; complete.
שָׁלֵם
It echoes the movement toward a city made whole through return and rebuilding.
THE PATTERN
Return becomes restoration when what has fallen is rebuilt into a place that can stand, even under pressure.
Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:THE THREAD
Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.Daniel’s “restore” and Jeremiah’s “bring again” carry the same Hebrew root, שׁוב (shuv), to return or bring back. Jeremiah then pairs that return with the city being built on its own heap, opening the same movement from return into visible rebuilding.
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