Bible Strands
Daniel 10:2
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Daniel speaks in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, immediately following a revealed vision about a great conflict. He addresses the narrative to himself and the reader as he initiates a prolonged period of grief.
The words — The verb מִתְאַבֵּל (mit.'a.Bel) literally means "mourning" or "lamenting," while שָׁבֻעִים (sha.vu.'Im) translates to "sevens" or "weeks." These terms explicitly define the duration and nature of his self-imposed grief.
The thread — The text places Daniel’s mourning alongside Nehemiah’s days of weeping and fasting over national sin (Nehemiah 1:4) and links to the prophetic framework of decreed "seventy weeks" (Daniel 9:24). Ezra 9:4 similarly records a gathering of those who tremble at God’s words because of covenant unfaithfulness.
Why it lands — The verse states that receiving a true vision concerning a great conflict requires three full weeks of continuous mourning and physical denial. It asks the reader to accept that spiritual burden and divine revelation demand extended periods of grief and self-denial before any resolution.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.
Cross-references
- Nehemiah 1:4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
- Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
- Ezra 9:4 Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat there in horror until the evening offering.
- Psalms 42:9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”
- Psalms 43:2 For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?
- Psalms 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
- Isaiah 66:10 Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,
- Jeremiah 9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
- Matthew 9:15 Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
- Romans 9:2 I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.