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A Book You Can Trust—Part 4Awake!—2011 | February
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A Hope You Can Trust
Shortly after Medo-Persia conquered Babylon, Daniel recorded a prophecy that sheds light on a most important event in the accomplishment of God’s purpose for mankind. The angel Gabriel informed Daniel precisely when the Messiah—the “seed” promised at Genesis 3:15—would appear! God’s angel said: “From the going forth of the word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Leader, there will be seven weeks, also sixty-two weeks,” a total of 69 weeks. (Daniel 9:25) When did this prophetic period begin?
Although Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to their land soon after the fall of Babylon, many years later Jerusalem and its walls were still in disrepair. In 455 B.C.E., King Artaxerxes granted permission to his Jewish cupbearer Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and take the lead in the rebuilding work. (Nehemiah 2:1-6) This marked the start of the 69 weeks.
The 69 weeks, however, were not literal weeks of seven days but weeks of years. In fact, some Bible translations render the expression “weeks” as “weeks of years.”b (Daniel 9:24, 25) The Messiah would appear after a period of 69 “weeks” of 7 years each—a total of 483 years. The prophecy was fulfilled in 29 C.E. when Jesus was baptized, exactly 483 years from 455 B.C.E.c
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A Book You Can Trust—Part 4Awake!—2011 | February
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b Among the Bible translations that use the phrase “weeks of years” are the following: Tanakh—A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures, The Complete Bible—An American Translation, and The Bible—Containing the Old and New Testaments, by James Moffatt.
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