7:8 “As I was contemplating the horns, another horn – a small one – came up between them, and three of the former horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. 1 This horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant 2 things.
7:25 He will speak words against the Most High.
He will harass 6 the holy ones of the Most High continually.
His intention 7 will be to change times established by law. 8
They will be delivered into his hand
For a time, times, 9 and half a time.
1 tn Aram “were uprooted from before it.”
2 tn Aram “great.” So also in vv. 11, 20.
3 tn The words “I also wanted to know” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tc The conjunction in the MT before “eyes” is odd. The ancient versions do not seem to presuppose it.
5 tn Aram “greater than its companions.”
6 tn Aram “wear out” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB, NLT “wear down.” The word is a hapax legomenon in biblical Aramaic, but in biblical Hebrew it especially refers to wearing out such things as garments. Here it is translated “harass…continually.”
7 tn Aram “he will think.”
8 tn Aram “times and law.” The present translation is based on the understanding that the expression is a hendiadys.
9 sn Although the word times is vocalized in the MT as a plural, it probably should be regarded as a dual. The Masoretes may have been influenced here by the fact that in late Aramaic (and Syriac) the dual forms fall out of use. The meaning would thus be three and a half “times.”