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Daniel 12

VBL · Chapter 12/12

1“En ese momento se levantará Miguel, el gran príncipe, el protector de tu pueblo, y habrá un tiempo de angustia como nunca antes, desde que existen las naciones. Pero en ese momento se salvará tu pueblo, todos cuyos nombres están escritos en el libro.

2Millones dormidos en la tierra en la muerte despertarán, unos a la vida eterna, y otros a la vergüenza y a la desgracia eternas.

3Los sabios brillarán como el cielo; los que han enseñado a muchos el buen camino de la vida brillarán como las estrellas por los siglos de los siglos.

4“Pero en cuanto a ti, Daniel, mantén este mensaje en secreto, y sella el libro cerrado hasta el tiempo del fin. Muchos buscarán por aquí y por allá, y el conocimiento será cada vez mayor”.

5Entonces yo, Daniel, me fijé en otros dos, que estaban de pie en lados opuestos del río.

6Uno de ellos preguntó al hombre vestido de lino que estaba por encima de las aguas del río, “¿Cuánto tiempo pasará antes de que estas cosas escandalosas se acaben?”

7El hombre vestido de lino, que estaba por encima de las aguas del río, levantó ambas manos al cielo e hizo una promesa solemne por Aquel que vive eternamente. Le oí decir: “Durará un tiempo, tiempos y medio tiempo. Cuando la dispersión del poder del pueblo santo ha llegado a su fin, entonces todas estas cosas también llegarán a su fin”.

8Escuché la respuesta, pero no la entendí. Así que pregunté: “Mi señor, ¿cuál es el resultado final de todo esto?”

9“Daniel, ya puedes seguir tu camino”, respondió, “porque este mensaje es secreto y se mantiene sellado hasta el tiempo del fin.

10“Muchos serán purificados, limpiados y refinados, pero los malvados seguirán siendo malvados. Ninguno de los malvados entenderá, pero los sabios sí.

11Desde el momento en que el ministerio continuo se detiene para establecer la idolatría que causa la desolación serán mil doscientos noventa días.

12Bienaventurados los que esperan pacientemente y llegan a los mil trescientos treinta y cinco días.

13“Pero en cuanto a ti, sigue tu camino hasta que tu vida termine, y luego descansa. Te levantarás para recibir tu recompensa al final de los tiempos”.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The prophecy culminates with the promise that the archangel Michael will arise in a time of great distress, God's people will be delivered, many will rise to everlasting life or everlasting shame, and Daniel is instructed to seal the book until the time of the end.

Explanation

This final chapter presents one of the clearest Old Testament references to the individual resurrection of the dead, both to eternal life and to 'shame and everlasting contempt' (v.2), a concept that would become central to later Jewish and Christian theology about life after death. The instruction to 'seal the book until the time of the end' (v.4) does not mean hiding the message, but carefully preserving it so that its importance would be fully understood only when the prophesied events began to be recognizably fulfilled. The final, personal promise to Daniel — that he would 'rest' and 'rise to receive his allotted place at the end of the days' (v.13) — is a deeply moving close for a man who faithfully served God for decades in a foreign land, ensuring that his individual faithfulness would not be forgotten.

Fun facts

  • This verse about 'many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth' rising (v.2) is considered by Jewish and Christian scholars alike to be one of the most explicit passages in the entire Old Testament regarding the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.
  • The specific numbers of days mentioned at the end of the chapter (1290 and 1335 days) have generated centuries of study and debate among biblical interpreters trying to calculate their exact meaning, making them one of the most discussed elements in all of biblical apocalyptic literature.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Daniel 12:1Michael, the “prince” already mentioned in chapter 10, stands up here at a moment of “trouble, such as never was” — the same heavenly figure tied to the protection of the people of Israel reappears at the most tense point of the vision.
  2. Daniel 12:2“Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” is one of the clearest passages on resurrection in the entire Old Testament — a theme little developed elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, which makes this verse especially notable within the whole.
  3. Daniel 12:3Comparing those who teach righteousness to stars “for ever and ever” is one of the first clear biblical images of lasting individual reward, going beyond the simple idea of prosperity in this life.
  4. Daniel 12:4“Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end” is a literary device common in apocalyptic texts: presenting the vision as something written in a distant past but kept sealed to be understood only in a future age, closer to when the text actually began to circulate.
  5. Daniel 12:5The appearance of two more heavenly beings, in addition to the “man clothed in linen” already seen in chapter 10, marks the book’s final scene as a small divine council gathered on the banks of the river.
  6. Daniel 12:6The question “How long” is asked by one of the heavenly beings, not by Daniel — showing that even angelic figures are curious about the exact moment when the things foretold will be fulfilled.
  7. Daniel 12:7Raising both hands to heaven to make an oath was a solemn gesture recognized throughout the ancient world — here it reinforces that the answer, enigmatic as it is, is given with all the seriousness of a formal vow.
  8. Daniel 12:8Even after receiving so many visions throughout the book, Daniel openly admits, “I heard, but I understood not” — a humble ending for a character so often described as the wisest man at court.
  9. Daniel 12:9Saying that the words are “closed up and sealed” until the time of the end is a way of closing the book without promising that Daniel’s own generation would see the full fulfillment of what had been revealed.
  10. Daniel 12:10The closing statement suggests that understanding these visions will depend more on the moral character of the reader than on intelligence itself — only those who already pursue righteousness can truly grasp the full meaning of the book.
  11. Daniel 12:11The numbers “a thousand two hundred and ninety days” and “a thousand three hundred and five and thirty days,” slightly different both from each other and from the book’s other counts, like the “time, times, and the dividing of time” in chapter 7, are another point of intense discussion among scholars across the centuries, with no reading that has gathered consensus on exactly what each number measures.
  12. Daniel 12:12This second number of days, different from the one cited in verse 11, is one of the most debated details in the book — scholars have not reached a consensus on exactly which event each count refers to.
  13. Daniel 12:13The book ends with a quiet, personal promise to Daniel: “go thou thy way till the end be… thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” — after so many heavy visions about empires and wars, the book’s final word is addressed only to him, as a comforting close.

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