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Daniel

About this book
Chapter 12

1 “At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people,⁠ will arise.⁠ There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time.⁠ But at that time your own people, all those whose names are found written in the book, will escape.⁠ 2 Many of those who sleep in the dusty ground will awake—some⁠ to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence.⁠ 3 But the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse.⁠ And those bringing many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever.⁠ 4 “But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end.⁠ Many will dash about, and knowledge will increase.”⁠ 5 I, Daniel, watched as two others stood there, one on each side of the river. 6 One said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, “When will the end of these wondrous events occur?” 7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was over the waters of the river as he raised both his right and left hands to the sky and made an oath by the one who lives forever:⁠ “It is for a time, times, and half a time.⁠ Then, when the power of the one who shatters the holy people has been exhausted, all these things will be finished.” 8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I said, “Sir, what will happen after these things?” 9 He said, “Go, Daniel. For these matters are closed and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many will be purified, made clean, and refined, but the wicked will go on being wicked. None of the wicked will understand, though the wise will understand. 11 From the time that the daily sacrifice is removed and the abomination that causes desolation is set in place, there are 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is the one who waits and attains to the 1,335 days. 13 But you should go your way until the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will arise to receive what you have been allotted.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 66:24 and Daniel 12:2

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Daniel 12 describes a final resurrection in which some rise to everlasting life and others to everlasting shame, reshaping the post-battle scene of Isaiah 66 into an apocalyptic and eschatological moment.

Passages

Isaiah 66:24

Hebrew Bible
22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth I am about to make will remain standing before me,” says the Lord, “so your descendants and your name will remain. 23 From one month to the next and from one Sabbath to the next, all people will come to worship me,” says the Lord. 24 “They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, and the fire that consumes them will not die out. All people will find the sight abhorrent.”
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Daniel 12:2

Hebrew Bible
1 “At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time. But at that time your own people, all those whose names are found written in the book, will escape. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dusty ground will awake—some to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. 3 But the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse. And those bringing many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever. 4 “But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, and knowledge will increase.”
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Daniel

References

"... It is commonly recognized that Daniel 12:2 alludes to two different Isaian texts: Isaiah 26:19 and Isaiah 66:24. What is the breadth and effect of this double allusion? ... Missing from Isaiah 26:19 is the dualism of fate required by Daniel 12 to accommodate the traitors to the holy covenant among “the many” (e.g., Daniel 9:27; 11:30, 32). This aspect is provided by a complementary allusion to Isaiah 66:24, in which those who have so rebelled against God lie dead. This death is a timeless “reproach” for Isaiah: the worm that devours these corpses never dies; the fire that ravages the corpses is never exhausted. Just so the faithless in Daniel 12:2 arise “to everlasting reproach”. Thus, in addition to providing Daniel 12 a separate fate for the human antagonists of the narrative, Isaiah 66:24 also provides the necessary eternity of that punitive fate, an eternity corresponding to the everlasting life of the faithful. Also, a likely factor in this narrative’s interest in Isaiah 66:24 is that its immediate context, Isaiah 66:23, associates this punishment of the wicked with the eschatological restoration of a proper calendar to Temple worship (a concern reflected in Daniel 7:25; 8:11–12; 9:26–27; 11:31). Finally, that Daniel’s last verses allude to Isaiah’s closing verse underscores how deliberately Daniel uses allusion, and suggests the label, “Allusion-apocalypse” for this book ..."
G. Brooke Lester, Daniel Evokes Isaiah: Allusive Characterization of Foreign Rule in the Hebrew–Aramaic Book of Daniel, LHBOTS 606 (London: T&T Clark, 2015), 99–101.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 66:24 and Daniel 12:2

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