Daniel 12:8

I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these things?”

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Daniel addresses the heavenly man in linen above the river immediately after hearing the oath concerning the shattering of the holy people.

The words — שָׁמַעְתִּי (sha.ma'.ti) translates literally to "I heard" and אַחֲרִית ('a.cha.rith) denotes "outcome" or "latter part." These terms mark the prophet’s sensory reception of the vision and his specific request for its final resolution.

The thread — The motif of sealed prophecy awaiting the end appears in Daniel 12:9 and aligns with Jesus’ statement in Acts 1:7. Daniel 10:14 and Daniel 12:6 further anchor this pattern of delayed revelation for the latter days.

Why it lands — The text records Daniel’s explicit admission of non-comprehension and his direct question about the final result. It demands a reader to accept the boundary between received revelation and human understanding without demanding immediate clarity.

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

וַאֲנִ֥יva./'a.Niand/ I שָׁמַ֖עְתִּיsha.Ma'.tiI heard וְלֹ֣אve./Lo'and/ not אָבִ֑ין'a.VinI understood וָאֹ֣מְרָ֔הva./'O.me.Ra/hand/ I said/ !אֲדֹנִ֕י'a.do.N/iO lord/ my מָ֥הmahwhat?אַחֲרִ֖ית'a.cha.Rit[will be] [the] latter part of אֵֽלֶּה׃ פ'E.lehthese [things]

King James Version

And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?

Cross-references

Acts 1:7 Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.
Daniel 10:14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision concerns those days.”
Daniel 12:6 One of them said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long until the fulfillment of these wonders?”
Luke 18:34 But the disciples did not understand any of these things. The meaning was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend what He was saying.
John 12:16 At first His disciples did not understand these things, but after Jesus was glorified they remembered what had been done to Him, and they realized that these very things had also been written about Him.
1 Peter 1:11 trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.