Daniel 12:1-4, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Daniel 12:1-4
Crisis Opens into Resurrection and Shining Wisdom
Michael stands, a written people are delivered, and sleepers awake
At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. At that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
Resurrection hope is not a date chart, and sealing is not a secret club
Verse 2 is among the Hebrew Bible's clearest statements that the dead awake to lasting destinies. Many, the written book, and the scope of shining wisdom still receive debate. The hope exceeds ordinary political rescue without denying the unmatched distress.
Sealing the book preserves the disclosure inside the story until its time. It does not authorize secret-code claims or privileged modern decoding. Everlasting shame is not permission to humiliate living people, and this crisis must not be turned into antisemitic fantasies about who counts as Daniel's people.
How this should shape us
Stand with the distressed, honor the dead, and speak resurrection without pretending you can schedule it. Do not sell increased knowledge as a prophecy app, and do not use the written book to exclude Jews or anyone else from human dignity.
Teach it back
Explain Daniel 12:1-4 in your own words. Include its movement, ancient horizon, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Scope of the many, relation to Isaiah 26, bodily and corporate dimensions, identity of the written group, meaning of sealing, and relation among 1,260-like, 1,290, and 1,335 durations remain debated.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Daniel 12:1-4, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew-Aramaic wording, morphology, language boundary, names, repeated roots, clauses, and lexical controls.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Dan.xml, 12:1-4; Hebrew 1:1–2:4a and 8:1–12:13, Aramaic 2:4b–7:28
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew-Aramaic, textual, historical, translation, chronology, angelic-language, and duration notes.
NET Bible Daniel PDF, printed pp. 1668, translation and translator notes on 12:1-4
Supports: Bilingual form, genres, composition, imperial settings, Antiochus IV, four kingdoms, seventy weeks, resurrection, and major critical alternatives.
P. R. Davies, 'Daniel,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 563–571; chapter-level discussion applied to 12:1-4
Supports: Two major Greek editions, substantial chapters 4–6 differences, numbering, wording, order, and additions outside the pinned KJV mapping.
McLay, NETS Daniel, introduction printed pp. 991–994 and parallel Old Greek/Theodotion translation pp. 995–1025; 12:1-4
Supports: Historically situated reception diversity and safeguards against Christian triumphalism, antisemitism, and collapsing later readings into the first horizon.
Spurling, 'Interpretations of Daniel 12:1,' JSQ 25.3 (2018), pp. 297–319; Daniel 12:1 and selected late-antique Jewish-Christian receptions applied to 12:1-4
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Daniel 12:1-4, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew aramaic text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Daniel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew-Aramaic wording, morphology, language boundary, names, repeated roots, clauses, and lexical controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Dan.xml, 12:1-4; Hebrew 1:1–2:4a and 8:1–12:13, Aramaic 2:4b–7:28
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Daniel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew-Aramaic, textual, historical, translation, chronology, angelic-language, and duration notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Daniel PDF, printed pp. 1668, translation and translator notes on 12:1-4
Open source ↗scholarly commentary article
Daniel
Philip R. Davies
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, 2001
Supports: Bilingual form, genres, composition, imperial settings, Antiochus IV, four kingdoms, seventy weeks, resurrection, and major critical alternatives.
Exact location: P. R. Davies, 'Daniel,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 563–571; chapter-level discussion applied to 12:1-4
Open source ↗greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Daniel
R. Timothy McLay
Oxford University Press for the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 2009, electronic corrections through 2014
Supports: Two major Greek editions, substantial chapters 4–6 differences, numbering, wording, order, and additions outside the pinned KJV mapping.
Exact location: McLay, NETS Daniel, introduction printed pp. 991–994 and parallel Old Greek/Theodotion translation pp. 995–1025; 12:1-4
Open source ↗peer reviewed reception history article
Interpretations of Daniel 12:1 and Perceptions of the Christian 'Other'
Helen Spurling
Jewish Studies Quarterly 25.3, 2018
Supports: Historically situated reception diversity and safeguards against Christian triumphalism, antisemitism, and collapsing later readings into the first horizon.
Exact location: Spurling, 'Interpretations of Daniel 12:1,' JSQ 25.3 (2018), pp. 297–319; Daniel 12:1 and selected late-antique Jewish-Christian receptions applied to 12:1-4
Open source ↗