Daniel 12King James Version
The great final chapter. Michael shall stand up, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was. And at that time thy people shall be delivered. '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.' The clearest resurrection promise in the Hebrew Bible. Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are sealed till the time of the end. Thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
Michael stands up and there is a time of trouble unlike anything before it, but Daniel's people are delivered, everyone whose name is written in the book. Many who sleep in the dust awake to everlasting life or everlasting contempt. The wise shine like the brightness of the firmament. Daniel is told to seal the book until the end time, when many will run to and fro and knowledge will increase. Two figures ask how long; the answer is 1,290 days, then 1,335. Daniel is told to go his way and rest, for he will stand in his lot at the end of days.
History ends in resurrection and judgment, the wise who held faithful will shine like stars, and Daniel himself is given a personal word: rest, you will rise.
3: "And 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." The clearest promise of personal resurrection and lasting significance in the Old Testament.
Daniel is receiving this vision in his eighties, more than sixty years into his exile service. He began as a teenager taken from Jerusalem and ends here beside a river in Persia being told the last thing he needs to hear. The book he was commanded to seal will be opened again. The time is approximately 536 BC, and Cyrus has already issued his decree. Jerusalem is being rebuilt without him, but the word says he will rise.
Michael, the great prince who stands at the moment of ultimate crisis; Daniel, told to rest and trust his own resurrection; the unnamed figures who ask how long; the man clothed in linen above the river who answers with the final numbers.
Daniel 12 contains the clearest teaching on individual resurrection in the entire Hebrew Bible: the dead will rise, some to everlasting life and some to shame. This passage became foundational for Pharisaic Judaism and early Christianity. Paul quotes its imagery in 1 Corinthians. The book closes not with a vision of power but with a word of personal assurance to an old man who waited his whole life.
For when you have run a long race and need to hear that it counted. The final word to Daniel is not a doctrine or a timeline. It is a promise: go rest. You will stand in your lot. That is enough.
1And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3And 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.
4But 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.
5Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
6And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
7And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
8And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.