This article lists the 8 top selling Bible translations in the USA. The KJV is ranked number 2. Do they all teach the same things about the prophecy of the 70th Week of Daniel? I consider the correct translation of Daniel 9:27 to be of utmost importance. Why? It’s because most contemporary Protestant evangelicals believe the “he” of Daniel 9:27 is the Antichrist, a secular humanist who makes an Endtime treaty with the Jews who reconstruct a third temple of Solomon which the Antichrist defiles by placing the abomination of desolation. Does the King James version teach that?
King James Version (KJV)
4 and I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:
The wording of “the covenant” in verse 4 and verse 27 are identical. The King James translators believed the covenant of verse 4 is the same covenant of verse 27, i.e., God’s covenant of grace to Abraham and those like Abraham who believe in the Word of God by faith. The “he” of verse 27 was interpreted by the early Protestants to be Jesus Christ who confirmed, not made, the Abrahamic covenant, God’s covenant of grace to His people.
New International Version (NIV)
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:
“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.
Notice the difference? “A covenant” and “his covenant” are not necessarily the same thing according to the literal meaning of this translation.
New Living Translation (NLT)
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:
“O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands.
27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven.
NLT doesn’t even use the word covenant! “Make a treaty” and “confirm the covenant” are two different things.
New King James Version (NKJV)
4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
NKJV does not use the definite article “the” before covenant.
English Standard Version (ESV)
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week,
Make is not the same thing as confirm.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:
Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps His gracious covenant with those who love Him and keep His commands—
27 He will make a firm covenant[a]
with many for one week,[A] Or will enforce a covenant
Even the footnotes are wrong on the HCSB
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week,
Common English Bible (CEB)
4 As I prayed to the Lord my God, I made this confession:
Please, my Lord—you are the great and awesome God, the one who keeps the covenant, and truly faithful to all who love him and keep his commands:
27 For one week, he will make a strong covenant with many people.
I hope you see clearly that a good Bible translation is important! Do you have a problem with the KJV being authorized by a British monarch you don’t like? If so, read the Geneva Bible of 1599! It gets Daniel 9:27 correct.
1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)
4 And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, saying, Oh Lord God which art great and fearful, and keepest covenant and mercy toward them which love thee, and toward them that keep thy commandments,
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:
But unfortunately the Geneva Bible doesn’t put the definite article before “covenant” in verse 4. This confirms in my mind that the KJV is superior to the GNV.
The false teaching of a future Endtime Antichrist making a covenant with the Jews to create a third temple of Solomon was cooked up around 1580 by a Jesuit priest named Francesco Ribera. He was commissioned by the Vatican to figure out a way to get Protestants’ eyes off of the papacy as being the Antichrist. In order for this to work, the Devil had to distort Bible translations to say “make” rather than “confirm” and use different wording for covenant so nobody would associate the covenant with the one written in verse 4.
I wanted to see how a Jewish/English Holy Bible translated the same verses:
Daniel 9:4 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
4 I prayed to Adonai my God and made this confession: “Please, Adonai, great and fearsome God, who keeps his covenant and extends grace to those who love him and observe his mitzvot!
Daniel 9:27 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
27 He will make a strong covenant with leaders for one week [of years]. For half of the week he will put a stop to the sacrifice and the grain offering. On the wing of detestable things the desolator will come and continue until the already decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.”
I checked out this Spanish Holy Bible called: Español Reina Valera 1909
and translated it to english, see below:
http://bibledbdata.org/onlinebibles/rv1909/27_009.htm
Daniel 9
9:4 Y oré á Jehová mi Dios, y confesé, y dije: Ahora Señor, Dios grande, digno de ser temido, que guardas el pacto y la misericordia con los que te aman y guardan tus mandamientos;
9:27 Y en otra semana confirmará el pacto á muchos, y á la mitad de la semana hará cesar el sacrificio y la ofrenda: después con la muchedumbre de las abominaciones será el desolar, y esto hasta una entera consumación; y derramaráse la ya determinada sobre el pueblo asolado.
Spanish to English using http://Google.translate.com
9: 4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God and confessed, and said, O Lord, the great God, to be feared, who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments;
9:27 And in another week confirm the covenant with many, and to half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Note: Google translate didn’t do a very good job translating old Hebrew to English but it seemed to do an excellent job translating Spanish to English but I have no way to verify it.
Your Spanish Bible is definitely more accurate than the Jewish/English Holy Bible. Jesus did not “make” the covenant when He began His ministry, He confirmed the covenant that was already in existence from the time of Abraham. To say “make” is a mistranslation. And why was it mistranslated? Either the manuscript was bad, or it was intentional to deceive Christians with false doctrine.
I agree, the Complete Jewish Bible is NOT a Bible that I would recommend for that very reason and unfortunately many others. I prefer to stick with the KJV which is easy to learn if it’s read frequently with a Bible dictionary available for the older words we rarely use these days.
You make a very interesting point to consider. I have read quite a bit on the subject while researching my latest book (Antichrist 2016-2019: Mystery Babylon, Barack Obama & the Islamic Caliphate) and I never came across this concept before. And I agree that substantial mistranslations are rampant, and that relying on one version of the Bible in English alone will cause some misunderstandings.
David, I’m glad you found me and liked that article. I used to believe in a final 7 years of the reign of Antichrist which precedes the return of Jesus Christ, but now I believe this doctrine was based on an incorrect interpretation of Daniel 9:27. Please see my other article on this site, http://jamesjpn.net/basic-bible/eschatology/the-70th-week-of-daniel-delusion where I explain further.