What is Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy?
Question 10075
Daniel’s prophecy of seventy weeks stands as one of Scripture’s most precise and remarkable predictions. It provides a chronological framework for understanding God’s dealings with Israel, pinpointing the exact timing of Messiah’s first coming, and revealing the future tribulation period. Understanding this prophecy unlocks much of biblical eschatology.
The Historical Context
Daniel received this prophecy during the Babylonian exile, around 538 BC. He’d been reading Jeremiah’s prophecy: “This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (Jeremiah 25:11). Recognising that the seventy years were nearly complete, Daniel prayed for Israel’s restoration (Daniel 9:1-19).
While Daniel was praying, the angel Gabriel appeared: “While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the LORD my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice” (Daniel 9:20-21).
Gabriel brought a message far exceeding Daniel’s immediate concern about the seventy-year exile. God revealed a plan spanning seventy “weeks”—not weeks of days, but weeks of years—totalling 490 years of divine dealings with Israel.
The Prophecy Itself
Gabriel declared: “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place” (Daniel 9:24).
The Hebrew word translated “weeks” is shabuim (שָׁבֻעִים), literally “sevens.” Context determines whether it means seven days or seven years. Here, it clearly means years, giving us 70 x 7 = 490 years. This interpretation makes sense both mathematically and theologically, as we’ll see.
Notice the six purposes of these seventy weeks, all concerning “your people” (Israel) and “your holy city” (Jerusalem). Three are negative—finishing transgression, ending sin, atoning for iniquity. Three are positive—bringing everlasting righteousness, sealing vision and prophet, anointing the most holy place. These goals haven’t yet been fully accomplished; they await complete fulfilment at Christ’s second coming.
The Three Divisions
Gabriel divided the seventy weeks into three periods: “Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing” (Daniel 9:25-26).
The periods are: seven weeks (49 years), sixty-two weeks (434 years), and one final week (7 years). The first two periods run consecutively—7 + 62 = 69 weeks, or 483 years. The final week stands separately, separated from the first sixty-nine by a gap.
The Starting Point
When do the seventy weeks begin? Gabriel specifies: “from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem” (Daniel 9:25). This refers to a specific decree authorising Jerusalem’s rebuilding.
Several decrees were issued regarding the Jews’ return:
Cyrus’s decree in 538 BC (Ezra 1:1-4) permitted the temple’s rebuilding but didn’t mention the city. Darius’s decree in 520 BC (Ezra 6:1-12) confirmed Cyrus’s decree. Artaxerxes’s decree to Ezra in 458 BC (Ezra 7:11-26) concerned temple service but not city rebuilding.
The decree that best fits is Artaxerxes’s command to Nehemiah in 445 BC (or possibly 444 BC): “And I said to the king, ‘If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favour in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.’ And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), ‘How long will you be gone, and when will you return?’ So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time” (Nehemiah 2:5-6).
This decree specifically authorised Jerusalem’s rebuilding, including its walls and gates. Taking 445 BC as the starting point (Nisan 1, 445 BC, to be precise, according to Nehemiah 2:1) and calculating forward using prophetic years of 360 days (as used throughout Daniel and Revelation), we can determine the endpoint.
The Mathematics
From the decree to “Messiah the Prince” is sixty-nine weeks: 69 x 7 = 483 years. Converting to prophetic years: 483 x 360 = 173,880 days.
Calculating from Nisan 1, 445 BC (March 14, 445 BC in the Julian calendar) forward 173,880 days brings us to Nisan 10, AD 32 (April 6, AD 32)—the exact day Jesus entered Jerusalem in what we call the triumphal entry.
This is remarkable. Luke records: “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes'” (Luke 19:41-42). Jesus wept because Israel didn’t recognise “this day”—the exact day prophesied by Daniel when Messiah would present Himself.
Jesus continued: “For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:43-44). Israel’s failure to recognise the prophesied time brought judgement—Jerusalem’s destruction in AD 70.
The Gap Between Weeks Sixty-Nine and Seventy
After describing the first sixty-nine weeks, Gabriel states: “And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed” (Daniel 9:26).
“After the sixty-two weeks”—which follows the initial seven weeks—the Messiah is “cut off,” meaning executed. This occurred at the crucifixion, days after Jesus’ triumphal entry. He was cut off and “had nothing”—rejected by His people, denied His kingdom, dying a criminal’s death.
Then Gabriel mentions “the people of the prince who is to come” destroying “the city and the sanctuary.” This occurred in AD 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Notice the prophecy separates the Messiah’s cutting off from the city’s destruction—there’s a gap, currently spanning over 1,900 years.
The seventieth week hasn’t yet occurred. Between weeks sixty-nine and seventy lies the Church age, a time not revealed to Old Testament prophets. Paul called this a “mystery” (Ephesians 3:1-6)—something hidden in Old Testament times but now revealed.
The Seventieth Week
Gabriel describes the final week: “And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator” (Daniel 9:27).
Who is “he”? The nearest antecedent is “the prince who is to come” (verse 26)—not Messiah, but a future ruler whose people (the Romans) destroyed Jerusalem. This is the Antichrist, the final world dictator.
He makes a covenant with “many”—presumably Israel—for seven years. This covenant likely guarantees Israel’s security and permits temple worship to resume. But at the midpoint—”half of the week,” or three and a half years—he breaks the covenant, stops temple sacrifice, and sets up the “abomination of desolation.”
Jesus referred to this: “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:15-16). Paul described it: “who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
The final three and a half years constitute the “great tribulation,” culminating in Christ’s return. The seventieth week thus equals the seven-year tribulation period frequently mentioned in prophetic Scripture.
Why the Gap?
Why does a gap exist between weeks sixty-nine and seventy? Because Israel rejected their Messiah. Jesus lamented: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37).
Israel’s rejection triggered a temporary setting aside. Paul explained: “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew” (Romans 11:1-2). But he added: “through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!” (Romans 11:11-12).
The gap represents the Church age—the time of Gentile blessing. When the Church is complete and removed at the rapture, God’s prophetic clock resumes with Israel. The seventieth week begins, and the prophecy reaches its conclusion.
The Purposes Fulfilled
How do the six purposes of Daniel 9:24 find fulfilment? At Christ’s second coming, after the seventieth week:
“To finish the transgression”—Israel’s long rebellion against God ends when they recognise their Messiah. Zechariah prophesied: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him” (Zechariah 12:10).
“To put an end to sin”—Christ’s millennial reign establishes righteousness. Satan is bound (Revelation 20:2), and sin’s dominion ends.
“To atone for iniquity”—Christ’s sacrifice accomplished this at the cross, but its application to national Israel awaits their acceptance of Him as Messiah.
“To bring in everlasting righteousness”—The millennium inaugurates Christ’s righteous reign, extending into the eternal state.
“To seal both vision and prophet”—All prophecy finds fulfilment. No more prophetic revelation is needed.
“To anoint a most holy place”—The millennial temple is consecrated for worship during Christ’s reign (Ezekiel 40-48).
Objections Answered
Some interpret the seventieth week as already fulfilled, either in Christ’s ministry or in the events surrounding Jerusalem’s destruction. But this doesn’t fit the text. Christ’s ministry lasted three years, not seven. The covenant mentioned in Daniel 9:27 is made by “the prince who is to come,” not by Messiah. The abomination of desolation Jesus described as future (Matthew 24:15) has never occurred.
Others suggest the seventy weeks are symbolic, not literal. But the first sixty-nine weeks are demonstrably literal, fulfilled precisely in history. Why would the final week suddenly become symbolic? This violates consistent interpretation.
The most natural reading sees sixty-nine literal weeks fulfilled consecutively, a gap representing the Church age, and a final literal week—the tribulation—yet to come.
Lessons for Today
What does this prophecy teach us? First, God’s sovereignty over history. He predicted events centuries before they occurred—the exact timing of Messiah’s coming, Jerusalem’s destruction, the final tribulation. History isn’t random; it’s orchestrated by divine purpose.
Second, the importance of Israel in God’s plan. The seventy weeks concern “your people and your holy city.” God hasn’t finished with Israel. Their rejection of Messiah brought temporary setting aside, but God will fulfil His promises to them.
Third, the certainty of prophecy. If the first sixty-nine weeks were fulfilled precisely, the seventieth week will be too. We can trust God’s Word about future events just as surely as we trust His Word about past events.
Fourth, the urgency of the gospel. The gap between weeks sixty-nine and seventy represents God’s patience—the Church age when salvation is offered to all. But this gap will close. When the Church is complete, the seventieth week begins. Time is running out.
Conclusion
Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy provides a chronological framework for God’s dealings with Israel. It predicted Messiah’s first coming to the exact day. It explains the current Church age as a gap between weeks sixty-nine and seventy. It reveals the future seven-year tribulation as the final week. And it promises complete fulfilment of God’s purposes for Israel.
For believers, this prophecy encourages confidence in Scripture’s reliability and God’s sovereign control. For unbelievers, it warns that time is limited. The gap won’t remain open indefinitely. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow, the seventieth week may begin, and opportunity may be lost. The question is: Are you ready?
“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.” Daniel 9:24
Bibliography
- Walvoord, John F. Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation. Chicago: Moody Press, 1971.
- Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958.
- Anderson, Robert. The Coming Prince. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1957.
- McClain, Alva J. Daniel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1940.