What Does Daniel 9:26 Mean in the King James?
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
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 Hebrew verb for the anointed one being cut off also appears in the phrase for cutting a covenant, so the verse’s severing carries an echo of a bond broken open.
THE MEANING
The verse names the anointed one as cut off, “but not for himself,” then names a people who destroy the city and sanctuary. Flood and war carry that rupture across the landscape, with desolation marking the war’s determined end. The anointed one’s severing and the sanctuary’s devastation remain in the same frame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that anointed status or sacred space makes a person or place invulnerable to violence.
THE ROOT
יִכָּרֵת
yikkaret
GROWS FROM
כרת
k-r-t
to cut, sever, or cut off
יִכָּרֵת is a passive form of כרת. The same root appears in the phrase “cut a covenant” and in כְּרִיתוּת (keritut, a certificate of divorce), so English “cut off” leaves a relational resonance of a bond being severed just beneath the surface.
ALSO GROWS
karat berit: literally, “cut a covenant”; the Hebrew idiom for making a covenant
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The verb translated “cut off” also participates in covenant language, giving the verse’s severance an echo of binding commitment.
keritut: a certificate of divorce; formal separation
כְּרִיתוּת
This derivative names a severed relationship, bringing the sense of a broken bond into the root’s range.
מָשִׁיחַ
mashiach
GROWS FROM
משח
m-sh-ḥ
to smear or apply oil; to anoint
“Messiah” in this verse is mashiach. מָשִׁיחַ means “the anointed one,” an identity formed from the verb for anointing. The verse places that marked identity directly beside יִכָּרֵת (yikkaret, “shall be cut off”), holding designation and severing in one line.
ALSO GROWS
mashach: to anoint, apply oil
מָשַׁח
The title “the anointed one” grows directly from this action.
mishchah: anointing; consecration with oil
מִשְׁחָה
This noun names the act or state that gives the anointed one the title used in the verse.
יַשְׁחִית
yashchit
GROWS FROM
שחת
sh-ḥ-t
to ruin, destroy, or corrupt
“destroy” in this verse is yashchit. The verb for destroying belongs to a root that also names ruin and a pit. The language holds devastation and collapse together as the people’s violence reaches both city and sanctuary.
ALSO GROWS
shachat: pit; destruction
שַׁחַת
The root can name both ruin and the place of collapse, deepening the force of the city’s destruction.
mashchit: destroyer; one who brings ruin
מַשְׁחִית
This branch names the agent of the destruction, echoing the verse’s people who devastate the city and sanctuary.
THE PATTERN
Scripture’s covenant language can speak of binding commitment through a cutting act, while the same Hebrew root also names severance.
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.THE THREAD
For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.Psalm 37:9 uses the same root, כרת (karat, “cut off”), and sets that severing beside the promise of inheriting the earth. The shared verb gives Daniel’s “cut off” a land-and-future resonance, which Daniel’s verse makes concrete in the city and sanctuary.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us