Daniel 12:4

Daniel 12:4

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.

a. NLT: But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.” [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. NIV: But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.” [THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.]

c. YLT: And thou, O Daniel, hide the things, and seal the book till the time of the end, many do go to and fro, and knowledge is multiplied.' [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Amplified Bible Classic:  But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the Book until the time of the end. [Then] many shall run to and fro and search anxiously [through the Book], and knowledge [of God’s purposes as revealed by His prophets] shall be increased and become great. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Septuagint: And thou, Daniel, close the words, and seal the book to the time of the end; until many are taught, and knowledge is increased.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: As for you, Daniel, obscure the matters and seal the book until the time of the End; let many muse and let knowledge increase. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

1). Rabbinic note under 12:4 Write the prophecies in an obscure manner so that their exact meaning remains unclear. People will have to investigate thoroughly and search hard to discern the true intent of these prophecies. (Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings).

1. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end…

a. But thou [Strong: 859 'attah at-taw' or (shortened); aatta {at-taw'}; or wath {ath}; feminine (irregular) sometimes nattiy {at-tee'}; plural masculine attem {at- tem'}; feminine atten {at-ten'}; or oattenah {at-tay'naw}; or fattennah {at-tane'-naw}; a primitive pronoun of the second person; thou and thee, or (plural) ye and you:--thee, thou, ye, you.]

b. [O] Daniel [Strong: 840 'Asar'el as-ar-ale' by orthographical variation from 833 and 410; right of God; Asarel, an Israelite:--Asareel.]

c. shut up [Strong: 5640 catham saw-tham' or satham (Numbers 24:15) {saw-tham'}; a primitive root; to stop up; by implication, to repair; figuratively, to keep secret:--closed up, hidden, secret, shut out (up), stop.]

d. the words [Strong: 1697 dabar daw-baw' from 1696; a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause:--act, advice, affair, answer, X any such (thing), because of, book, business, care, case, cause, certain rate, + chronicles, commandment, X commune(-ication), + concern(-ing), + confer, counsel, + dearth, decree, deed, X disease, due, duty, effect, + eloquent, errand, (evil favoured-)ness, + glory, + harm, hurt, + iniquity, + judgment, language, + lying, manner, matter, message, (no) thing, oracle, X ought, X parts, + pertaining, + please, portion, + power, promise, provision, purpose, question, rate, reason, report, request, X (as hast) said, sake, saying, sentence, + sign, + so, some (uncleanness), somewhat to say, + song, speech, X spoken, talk, task, + that, X there done, thing (concerning), thought, + thus, tidings, what(-soever), + wherewith, which, word, work.]

e. and seal [Strong: 2856 chatham khaw-tham' a primitive root; to close up; especially to seal:--make an end, mark, seal (up), stop.]

f. the book [Strong: 5612 cepher say'-fer or (feminine) ciphrah (Psa. 56:8 (9)) {sif-raw'}; from 5608; properly, writing (the art or a document); by implication, a book:--bill, book, evidence, X learn(-ed) (-ing), letter, register, scroll.]

g. [even] to [Strong: 5704 `ad ad properly, the same as 5703 (used as a preposition, adverb or conjunction; especially with a preposition); as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with):--against, and, as, at, before, by (that), even (to), for(-asmuch as), (hither-)to, + how long, into, as long (much) as, (so) that, till, toward, until, when, while, (+ as) yet.]

h. the time [Strong: 6256 `eth ayth from 5703; time, especially (adverb with preposition) now, when, etc.:--+ after, (al-)ways, X certain, + continually, + evening, long, (due) season, so (long) as, (even-, evening-, noon-)tide, ((meal-)), what) time, when.]

i. of the end [Strong: 7093 qets kates contracted from 7112; an extremity; adverbially (with prepositional prefix) after:--+ after, (utmost) border, end, (in-)finite, X process.]

2. “…many shall run to and fro…”

a. many [Strong: 7227 rab rab by contracted from 7231; abundant (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality):--(in) abound(-undance, -ant, -antly), captain, elder, enough, exceedingly, full, great(-ly, man, one), increase, long (enough, (time)), (do, have) many(-ifold, things, a time), ((ship-))master, mighty, more, (too, very) much, multiply(-tude), officer, often(-times), plenteous, populous, prince, process (of time), suffice(-lent).]

b. shall run to and fro [Strong: 7751 shuwt shoot a primitive root; properly, to push forth; (but used only figuratively) to lash, i.e. (the sea with oars) to row; by implication, to travel:--go (about, through, to and fro), mariner, rower, run to and fro.]

1). Institute Of Creation Research Daily Devotional 10/2/14: A more striking summary of our own times could hardly be imagined. The Hebrew word for “run to and fro” is used first in 2 Chronicles 16:9. “The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth,” and its sense is “race back and forth.” What a description of our present society, with speeding automobiles all over the land and airplanes filling our skies! In little more than one lifetime, the world “progressed” from horse and buggy to spacecraft, and almost everyone is racing to and fro.

2). Lamb and Lion Ministries: Increase in Transportation: Notice in that same prophecy the angel told Daniel that, besides a great increase in knowledge, "many will go to and fro" (Daniel 12:4). This tremendous increase in travel would also occur in the same context, that being the end times. God was revealing that once people began to go to and fro, both farther and faster, those final years before Christ returned to set up His Millennial Kingdom were finally upon us. Stop and think how people traveled just a single century ago. Most roads weren't even paved yet and were traveled along by horse-drawn wagons. People rarely, if ever, left their hometowns. Animal domestication and the early beginnings of decent roads, then bicycles, balloons, boats, and simple automobiles were developing, but not widely received. Since the early part of the twentieth century, mankind went on to invent airplanes and jets, and we've even left Earth's atmosphere in rockets and space shuttles. It used to take months for people to travel overseas by boat, but now we travel that same distance abroad in mere hours. In today's world, people are always on the move, just as the angel prophesied to Daniel. Today's exponential increase in travel points to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon. 

3. “...and knowledge shall be increased.”

a. [and] knowledge [Strong: 1847 da`ath dah'-ath from 3045; knowledge:--cunning, (ig-)norantly, know(-ledge), (un-)awares (wittingly).] 

b. shall be increased [Strong: 7235 rabah raw-baw' a primitive root; to increase (in whatever respect):--(bring in) abundance (X -antly), + archer (by mistake for 7232), be in authority, bring up, X continue, enlarge, excel, exceeding(-ly), be full of, (be, make) great(-er, -ly, X -ness), grow up, heap, increase, be long, (be, give, have, make, use) many (a time), (any, be, give, give the, have) more (in number), (ask, be, be so, gather, over, take, yield) much (greater, more), (make to) multiply, nourish, plenty(-eous), X process (of time), sore, store, thoroughly, very.]

1). Institute Of Creation Research Daily Devotional 10/2/14: Furthermore, “knowledge” has been “increased” far beyond the wildest imaginations of people in the days of our founding fathers. The Hebrew word could well be understood as what we mean today by “science.” It is significant that the foundations of our modern scientific age were laid mostly by great scientists who were creationists (Newton, Boyle, Pascal, Pasteur, Faraday, Maxwell, etc.). In our present generation, however, science has been largely taken over by non-Christian evolutionists, and science has also generated deadly instruments of destruction and pollution which are threatening life’s existence. This rise in “science falsely so called” is also given as a sign of the last days (1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Peter 3:3, 4; etc.). In any case, the explosive increase in science (both true and false) and rapid travel in our day is one of the many God-given signs that the return of Christ is near!

2). Lamb and Lion Ministries, 3/27/2024: : Increase in Knowledge: Let's explore the first sign — a great increase in knowledge. Unless you're a toddler playing with your mother's Android, you have lived long enough to realize that the way we obtain information has changed a lot — a whole lot — over the last few decades. Let's not even talk decades but in years. The child attaining adulthood today can, with a shudder, look back to the early 2000s when there was no Wikipedia, no Gmail, no social media like Facebook and Twitter (now called X), no cloud computing, no tablets, no smartphones, and certainly no high-speed Internet connectivity…Times a-changin' wasn't always the way things were, though. For thousands of years of human history, life remained pretty much the same. Sure, every 300 years or so the world eked out an innovation that revolutionized the world, moving humanity from say the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. But, for the most part, limitations in travel left most inventions cordoned off to a tiny corner of the world. But then, AD 1454 finally arrived, and the German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg released the very first mobile, reusable type press (like an antique photocopier). At last, words of knowledge could be mass-copied onto paper and distributed far and wide. The age of the printed book revolutionized the world, and Gutenberg started with the fount of all knowledge — the Bible. Were you surprised to learn from your history classes that the most world-changing advances were made just in the last 150 years or so? And, as we got closer to our day and age, how each discovery came about faster and faster, as one breakthrough was achieved on top of another? This increasingly rapid acceleration in learning is called the Exponential Curve. Our knowledge has been experiencing exponential growth as one breakthrough builds upon another at an increasingly faster and faster pace. Today's exponential increase in knowledge points to the fact that we are living in the prophesied end times and that Jesus Christ is coming soon.

3). Lamb and Lion Ministries, 3/27/2024: Lamb and Lion Ministries: 3/27/2024: Increase in Understanding Prophecy: Did you know that Bible prophecy constitutes a whopping 31% of the Bible? God's overall plan for the ages appears to be rather like a 100-piece puzzle, and so far, He has only provided 75 pieces. One can make out the outline of a picture, but until certain events unfold, which then add another new piece to the puzzle, the picture remains incomplete. Still, the 75 pieces we have now are far more numerous than what Daniel ever had. As Jesus explained to His disciples, "For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Matthew 13:17). Even then, the Apostles didn't understand many of Christ's teachings until after His resurrection when He openly explained them and then later sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to provide further illumination. Today, the various end times signs related to nature, society, world politics, technology, Israel, and the spiritual signs are coming at us at such a fantastic rate that Bible prophecy teachers have begun to call the phenomenon "The Convergence". So many end times signs converging all at once has greatly enhanced our understanding of end times Bible prophecy, just as Gabriel foretold. Today's exponential increase in the understanding of God's prophetic Word points to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.