Daniel 9:24-25 loosely reads, “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and your holy city…from the going forth of the command to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be sixty-nine weeks” or 483 years. The seventy weeks of Daniel contain one of the most remarkable prophecies in Scripture, identifying the day Jesus made His triumphal entry: April 6, 32AD. Read the notes or listen to the teaching!

Table of contentsWhy Seventy Years in Exile?Background to the Seventy Weeks of DanielThe Bible Is Meant to Be Taken Literally When AppropriateThe Bible Is Meant to Be UnderstoodThe Importance of the Seventy Weeks of DanielUnderstanding the Seventy Weeks of DanielSix Things Accomplished By the End of the Seventy Weeks of DanielRestoring and Building JerusalemMessiah the Prince Comes after Sixty-Nine WeeksFour Possible Dates of the Decree to Restore and Build JerusalemThe First Possible Decree in 538 BCThe Second Possible Decree in 517 BCThe Third Possible DecreeThe Fourth (and Correct) Decree on March 14, 445 BCWhy Seven Weeks and Sixty-Two Weeks Versus Sixty-Nine Weeks?Why Add, "A Prince”?Why Can't We Add 483 Years to March 14, 445 BC?The Seventy Weeks of Daniel Is a Time-Sensitive Prophecy

The prophet Jeremiah warned the Jews that the Babylonians would conquer them if they didn’t repent. The Jews didn’t repent, so Babylon conquered the Jews and brought them into exile in Babylon.

Jeremiah 25:11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.

The land is Judah. After God used the Babylonians to punish the Jews for their wickedness, He punished the Babylonians for their wickedness when the Medes and Persians conquered them under King Cyrus, who then allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem in three waves. We read about this in Ezra and Nehemiah.

Jeremiah 29:10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

Jeremiah was writing from Jerusalem, so “this place” is Jerusalem.

Why Seventy Years in Exile?

We get the answer in 2 Chronicles 36. Here's the context: The Jews were supposed to let the land rest every seventh year. In other words, the land was supposed to receive its own Sabbath. The Jews were supposed to walk by faith and trust God to provide enough in the sixth year to last them through the seventh year. But there’s no record of the Jews ever doing this once in 490 years. For 490 years, the land missed seventy Sabbath years. So, God removed the Jews from the land for seventy years so it could experience the rest it was supposed to have:

2 Chronicles 36:20 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

This refers to Jeremiah’s prophecy, which we read in Jeremiah 25:11-12 and Jeremiah 29:10, that the Jews would be in exile for seventy years.

Background to the Seventy Weeks of Daniel

Daniel is one of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. He read the prophet Jeremiah’s writings and learned the Jews were going to be in exile for 70 years. The authors of the Scriptures set an excellent example for us by reading each other’s writings. We also have an example in the New Testament when Peter read Paul’s writings and said they could be hard to understand:

2 Peter 3:16 There are some things in [Pauls’ writings] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Daniel was reading the Book of Jeremiah:

Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

The NIV uses “Scriptures” instead of “books” when referring to Jeremiah’s writings, which are part of the Scriptures.

Daniel understood from Jeremiah’s writings that the Jews would be in exile in Babylon for seventy years, allowing Jerusalem to be desolate during that time.

The Bible Is Meant to Be Taken Literally When Appropriate

We can learn an essential lesson from Daniel's understanding of Jeremiah’s writings: the Bible is meant to be taken literally when appropriate. Daniel interpreted Jeremiah’s writings literally. He understood seventy years as seventy years. I’m pointing this out to lay the groundwork for how we will interpret Daniel’s Seventy Weeks. We will view them as literal years.

Daniel is thinking about these 70 years they’ll be in Babylon and:

Daniel 9:20 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, 21 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.

The "holy hill of my God" refers to Jerusalem. Daniel said a man, but he meant the angel Gabriel. Daniel is referring to Gabriel visiting him in the previous chapter.

Daniel is praying, and he’s probably thinking something like, “There are seventy years that my people, the Jews, will be in Babylon, away from our holy city, Jerusalem, and when these seventy years are over, we will go back to Jerusalem, and that will be it. The land will have enjoyed its rest, and we will have made up for our disobedience.” But then Gabriel comes to Daniel and says, “No, Daniel, it’s not just about these 70 years for your people and your holy city. It’s about seventy-sevens, or 490 years, for your people and your holy city. It’s almost like the Jews disobeyed God for 490 years, and He added another 490 years to their history to wait Until Messiah the Prince came.

Had the Jews been obedient during those 490 years, would they have received their Messiah 490 years earlier? I don’t think anyone can answer that.

Plus, it gets even more complicated because when the Jews did receive their Messiah, they crucified Him. And that’s part of the prophecy in verse 26, which says the Messiah “shall be cut off, but not for himself.”

The Bible Is Meant to Be Understood

There’s quite a bit about understanding in this chapter:

Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

The ESV says “perceived,” but the NKJV, NIV, and Amplified read “understood.” Daniel means he understood the exile would be seventy years long.

Daniel 9:22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.

Daniel says Gabriel helped him understand, then Gabriel told Daniel he would help him understand, and finally, Gabriel told Daniel to understand.

Daniel 9:25 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.

The Bible is meant to be understood. This is personal to me because I spent my life growing up believing nobody can understand the Bible. I thought it was full of taboo, esoteric writings that only made sense to smart, spiritual people. I needed religious leaders, such as priests and the Pope, to tell me what it said because there was no way I could ever understand it myself. Even today, people think they can’t understand the Bible, which is tragic because:

John 16:13 Jesus said, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

So Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to help us understand the Bible. Why would God give us the Bible but not the ability to understand it?

The Importance of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel

Gabriel seems like a messenger angel. In Scripture, he visits Daniel, Zacharias to announce John the Baptist’s birth, and Mary to announce Jesus’ birth. He seems involved with delivering critical messages, which is what’s happening here. Gabriel stressed that Daniel needed to pay attention because what he was about to tell him was very important.

The Bible doesn’t use bold, underlining, or italics, so God repeats Himself when He wants us to get something. But the other thing He does is talk to us like we talk to our children: “Listen carefully. Concentrate. Pay attention so you can understand,” which is what He says in verses 22, 23, and 25.

The Seventy Weeks of Daniel is the most amazing and essential prophetic passage in the bible. It’s known as the backbone of Bible prophecy. The Bible is about Jesus, and this prophecy predicts the day of His coming as the Christ or Messiah.

A.J. McClain said, “Probably no single prophetic utterance is more crucial in the fields of Biblical Interpretation, Apologetics, and Eschatology than the seventy weeks of Daniel in 9:24-27.”

Isaac Newton said, “We could stake the truth of Christianity on the seventy weeks of Daniel.”

Understanding the Seventy Weeks of Daniel