Daniel 7:25
And he shall speak words against the High One, and shall crush the saints of the most High: and he shall think himself able to change times and laws, and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et sermones contra Excelsum loquetur, et sanctos Altissimi conteret : et putabit quod possit mutare tempora, et leges : et tradentur in manu ejus usque ad tempus, et tempora, et dimidium temporis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ λόγους πρὸς τὸν ὕψιστον λαλήσει, καὶ τοὺς ἁγίους Ὑψίστου παλαιώσει, καὶ ὑπονοήσει τοῦ ἀλλοιῶσαι καιροὺς καὶ νόμον, καὶ δοθήσεται ἐν χειρὶ αὐτοῦ ἕως καιροῦ καὶ καιρῶν καί γε ἥμισυ καιροῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וּמִלִּ֗ין לְצַ֤ד עליא יְמַלִּ֔ל וּלְקַדִּישֵׁ֥י עֶלְיוֹנִ֖ין יְבַלֵּ֑א וְיִסְבַּ֗ר לְהַשְׁנָיָה֙ זִמְנִ֣ין וְדָ֔ת וְיִתְיַהֲב֣וּן בִּידֵ֔הּ עַד עִדָּ֥ן וְעִדָּנִ֖ין וּפְלַ֥ג עִדָּֽן
Haydock's commentary
Against, or "over against," like an accuser. Sym.: "as if he were God."
Laws. He did this with regard to the Jews, (1 Machabees i. 41.; Calmet) prohibiting their festivals. Antichrist will do the like, and pretend to work miracles. (Haydock)
A time, &c. That is, three years and a half; which is supposed to be the length of the duration of the persecution of antichrist. (Challoner) (Apocalypse xi. 2. and xii. 14.)
Josephus (Jewish Wars, preface) says the sacrifices were discontinued so long, or rather this time elapsed from the publishing his edict till the temple was purified. During six months, people offered sacrifice clandestinely, 1 Machabees iv. 36, 52.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter XXXI. If Christ’s power be
“But if so great a power is shown to have followed and to be still following the dispensation of His suffering, how great shall that be which shall follow His glorious advent! For He shall come on the clouds as the Son of man, so Daniel foretold, and His angels shall come with Him. These are the words: ‘I beheld till the thrones were set; and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool. His throne was like a fiery flame, His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The books were opened, and the judgment was set. I beheld then the voice of the great words which the horn speaks: and the beast was beat down, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. …
St Athanasius Arian History. (Historia Arianorum ad Monachos.), Persecution in Egypt
Will not every just person break forth into lamentations at the sight or hearing of these things, at perceiving the arrogance and extreme injustice of these impious men? ‘The righteous lament in the place of the impious.’ After all these things, and now that the impiety has reached such a pitch of audacity, who will any longer venture to call this Costyllius a Christian, and not rather the image of Antichrist? For what mark of Antichrist is yet wanting? How can he in any way fail to be regarded as that one? or how can the latter fail to be supposed such a one as he is? Did not the Arians and the Gentiles offer those sacrifices in the great Church in the Cæsareum, and utter their blasphemies against Christ as by His command? And does not the vision of Daniel thus describe Antichrist; that he shall make war with the saints, and prevail against them, and exceed all that have been before him …
Aphrahat Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations, Of Wars
20. For Daniel said: I was considering the ten horns that were upon the head of the beast. For the ten horns were ten kings who arose at that time until Antiochus. And he said: A little horn arose from between those ten and three fell before it . For when Antiochus arose in the kingdom, he humbled three kings, and he exalted himself against the saints of the Most High and against Jerusalem. And he defiled the sanctuary. And he caused the sacrifice and the offerings to cease for a week and half a week, namely, for ten and a-half years. And he brought in fornicators into the house of the Lord, and he caused the observances of the Law to cease. And he slew righteous men and gave them to the birds of heaven and to the beasts of the earth. For in his days was fulfilled the word that David spoke: O God, the Gentiles have come into thine inheritance, and have defiled Thy holy temple. …