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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 1 Enoch 104:2 and Daniel 12:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Daniel 12 describes the wise shining like the brightness of the stars, a theme echoed in 1 Enoch 104, which also describes the righteous shining with the stars. Both build on traditions based on the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East.

Passages

1 Enoch 104:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 I swear to you, that in heaven the angels remember you for good before the glory of the Great One: and your names are written before the glory of the Great One. 2 Be hopeful; for previously you were shamed through suffering and affliction; but now you shall shine as the lights of heaven, you shall shine and you shall be seen, and the portals of heaven shall be opened to you. 3 And in your cry, cry for judgment, and it shall appear to you; for all your tribulation shall be visited on the rulers, and on all who helped those who plundered you.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Daniel 12:3

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.
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Daniel

References

"... The idea that human beings can be transported to the world of the gods is an ancient one, in the Near East as well as in Greece. One can think, for example, of Utnapishtim in Mesopotamia, or of Enoch and Elijah in the biblical tradition. In ancient Israel, however, such exaltation was exceptional. It is only at the end of the biblical period that the idea takes hold that righteous human beings, or at least righteous Israelites, would join the heavenly host after death. In Jewish tradition, this belief is first attested in the apocalyptic books of Daniel and Enoch, in the early second century BCE ..."
John J. Collins, "The Angelic Life" in Seim, Turid Karlsen and Økland, Jorunn. Metamorphoses: Resurrection, Body and Transformative Practices in Early Christianity (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2009), 291.

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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1 Enoch 104:2 and Daniel 12:3

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