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Daniel 12

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1 And at that time shall Michael stand, the great prince who stands for the sons of thy people; and there shall be a time of adversity, which was not since there was a nation even·​·to that same time; and at that time thy people shall escape, every one who shall be·​·found written in the book.

2 And many of them sleeping in the ground of dust shall awake, these to eternal life, the rest* to reproach and eternal abhorrence.

3 And the intelligent shall shine as the shining of the expanse, and those who turn many to be·​·just, as the stars for eternity and forever.

4 But thou, O Daniel, block·​·off the words, and seal the book, even·​·to the time of the end; many shall run·​·around, and knowledge shall be multiplied.

5 And I, Daniel, saw, and, behold, there stood two others, one here on the lip of the river and one there on the lip of the river.

6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was on the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?

7 And I heard the man clothed with linen, who was above the waters of the river, and he lifted·​·up his right hand and his left hand to the heavens, and promised by Him who lives for eternity that it shall be for a season of seasons and a half; and when they have completed scattering the hand of the holy people, all these things shall be completed.

8 And I heard, but I understood not; and said I, O my Lord, what shall be the last of these things?

9 And He said, Go, Daniel; for the words are blocked·​·off and sealed until the time of the end.

10 Many shall be purified, and made·​·white, and examined; but the wicked shall act·​·wickedly, and all the wicked shall not understand; but the intelligent shall understand.

11 And from the time that the continual offering shall be removed, and to the giving of the detestable that makes·​·desolate, shall be a thousand two·​·hundred and ninety days.

12 Happy is he who tarries, and reaches to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

13 But go thou even to the end; and thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Two

  

The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.