Grammar Analysis: Daniel 7:25–26 (Aramaic)

Text

Aramaic (v. 25): וּמִלִּ֗ין לְצַ֤ד עילאה [עִלָּאָה֙] יְמַלִּ֔ל וּלְקַדִּישֵׁ֥י עֶלְיֹונִ֖ין יְבַלֵּ֑א וְיִסְבַּ֗ר לְהַשְׁנָיָה֙ זִמְנִ֣ין וְדָ֔ת וְיִתְיַהֲב֣וּן בִּידֵ֔הּ עַד־עִדָּ֥ן וְעִדָּנִ֖ין וּפְלַ֥ג עִדָּֽן׃

Aramaic (v. 26): וְדִינָ֖א יִתִּ֑ב וְשָׁלְטָנֵ֣הּ יְהַעְדֹּ֔ון לְהַשְׁמָדָ֥ה וּלְהֹובָדָ֖ה עַד־סֹופָֽא׃

KJV (v. 25): And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

KJV (v. 26): But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

LXX-Theodotion (v. 25b): καὶ δοθήσεται ἐν χειρὶ αὐτοῦ ἕως καιροῦ καὶ καιρῶν καὶ ἡμίσους καιροῦ — "and it/they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time."

Word-by-Word Parsing

Daniel 7:25

#	Aramaic	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	וּ	ו	Conj	and
2	מִלִּ֗ין	מלה	Noun.fp.Abs	words
3	לְ	ל	Prep	to/against
4	צַ֤ד	צד	Noun.ms.Cst	side of
5	עילאה [עִלָּאָה]	עלי	Adj.ms	(the) Most High
6	יְמַלִּ֔ל	מלל	Verb.Pael.Impf.3ms	he shall speak
7	וּ	ו	Conj	and
8	לְ	ל	Prep	to/against
9	קַדִּישֵׁ֥י	קדישׁ	Adj.mp.Cst	holy ones of
10	עֶלְיֹונִ֖ין	עליון	Adj.mp.Abs	Most High
11	יְבַלֵּ֑א	בלה	Verb.Pael.Impf.3ms	he shall wear out
12	וְ	ו	Conj	and
13	יִסְבַּ֗ר	סבר	Verb.Peal.Impf.3ms	he shall intend/plan
14	לְ	ל	Prep	to
15	הַשְׁנָיָה֙	שׁנה	Verb.Haphel.InfCst	to change
16	זִמְנִ֣ין	זמן	Noun.mp.Abs	times/seasons
17	וְ	ו	Conj	and
18	דָ֔ת	דת	Noun.fs.Abs	law
19	וְ	ו	Conj	and
20	יִתְיַהֲב֣וּן	יהב	Verb.Hithpeel (Ithpeel).Impf.3mp	they shall be given
21	בִּ	ב	Prep	in(to)
22	ידֵ֔הּ	יד	Noun.fs.Abs.+3ms	his hand
23	עַד	עד	Prep	until
24	עִדָּ֥ן	עדן	Noun.ms.Abs	a time
25	וְ	ו	Conj	and
26	עִדָּנִ֖ין	עדן	Noun.mp.Abs	times
27	וּ	ו	Conj	and
28	פְלַ֥ג	פלג	Noun.ms.Cst	half of
29	עִדָּֽן	עדן	Noun.ms.Abs	a time

Daniel 7:26

#	Aramaic	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	וְ	ו	Conj	and / but
2	דִינָ֖א	דין	Noun.ms.(Emphatic/Det.)	the judgment
3	יִתִּ֑ב	יתב	Verb.Peal.Impf.3ms	shall sit
4	וְ	ו	Conj	and
5	שָׁלְטָנֵ֣הּ	שׁלטן	Noun.ms.Abs.+3ms	his dominion
6	יְהַעְדֹּ֔ון	עדה	Verb.Haphel.Impf.3mp	they shall take away
7	לְ	ל	Prep	to
8	הַשְׁמָדָ֥ה	שׁמד	Verb.Haphel.InfCst	to exterminate / consume
9	וּ	ו	Conj	and
10	לְ	ל	Prep	to
11	הֹובָדָ֖ה	אבד	Verb.Haphel.InfCst	to destroy / cause to perish
12	עַד	עד	Prep	until
13	סֹופָֽא	סוף	Noun.ms.(Emphatic/Det.)	the end

Clause Structure

v. 25 (from hebrew_parser.py --clause)

#	Type	Domain	Content
1	WxY0	Q (quotation/vision speech)	וּמִלִּין לְצַד עִלָּאָה יְמַלִּל — "and words against the Most High he shall speak" (fronted object)
2	WxY0	Q	וּלְקַדִּישֵׁי עֶלְיוֹנִין יְבַלֵּא — "and (against) the saints of the Most High he shall wear (them) out" (fronted complement)
3	WYq0	Q	וְיִסְבַּר — "and he shall intend"
4	InfC	Q	לְהַשְׁנָיָה זִמְנִין וְדָת — "to change times and law"
5	WYq0	Q	וְיִתְיַהֲבוּן בִּידֵהּ עַד־עִדָּן וְעִדָּנִין וּפְלַג עִדָּן — "and they shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of a time"

v. 26

#	Type	Domain	Content
1	WXYq	Q	וְדִינָא יִתִּב — "but the judgment shall sit" (subject-fronted — disjunctive / contrastive X-yiqtol)
2	WxY0	Q	וְשָׁלְטָנֵהּ יְהַעְדּוֹן — "and his dominion they shall take away" (fronted object)
3	InfC	Q	לְהַשְׁמָדָה — "to consume/exterminate"
4	InfC	Q	וּלְהוֹבָדָה עַד־סוֹפָא — "and to destroy it, unto the end"

Construct chains: צַד עִלָּאָה ("side of the Most High," v. 25); קַדִּישֵׁי עֶלְיוֹנִין ("holy ones of [the] Most High," v. 25); פְלַג עִדָּן ("half of time," v. 25).

Key Grammatical Features

1. The four-verb sequence of the little horn's activity (v. 25)

The little horn's career against the Most High is narrated in four yiqtol (imperfect) clauses in strict sequence, three of them headed by a fronted non-subject element (object or prepositional complement) — the Aramaic parallel to Hebrew's X-yiqtol foregrounding construction.

1. יְמַלִּל (Pael impf. 3ms of מלל "to speak") — with fronted object מִלִּין ("words") and complement לְצַד עִלָּאָה ("against the Most High"). The fronting gives rhetorical weight to the object of his blasphemy: words are what he hurls, and against the Most High is where he aims them.
2. יְבַלֵּא (Pael impf. 3ms of בְּלָא "to wear out, exhaust") — with fronted complement לְקַדִּישֵׁי עֶלְיוֹנִין ("[against] the saints of the Most High"). See §2 below on the Pael of בלה/בלא.
3. יִסְבַּר (Peal impf. 3ms of סבר "to think, suppose, intend") + InfC לְהַשְׁנָיָה (Haphel infinitive construct of שׁנה "to change"). The lexeme סבר does not mean "succeed" — it means "suppose, plan, intend." The horn's intention, not its achievement, is what the verb reports.
4. יִתְיַהֲבוּן (Ithpeel/Hithpeel impf. 3mp of יהב "to give") — a passive (see §3 below) with durative prepositional phrase עַד־עִדָּן וְעִדָּנִין וּפְלַג עִדָּן.

2. Pael יְבַלֵּא — "wear out" (intensive-iterative)

• Stem: Pael (the D-stem in Aramaic, cognate to Hebrew Piel). In Biblical Aramaic the Pael typically carries an intensive / iterative / factitive force over against the simple Peal (G-stem).
• Root: בְּלָא / בלה "to wear out, decay, become old" (Peal is intransitive: "to wear away"). The Pael is transitive-factitive: "cause to wear away / wear (someone) down."
• Sense: Not a single-blow destruction but a grinding, attritional action — wearing the saints down across an extended span. This lexical-aspectual choice matches the prepositional complement that follows in clause 5: the "time and times and half a time" is not the span of a discrete act but the duration of a sustained oppression.
• Parallel to the Greek: LXX-Theodotion renders יְבַלֵּא with κατατρίψει (fut. act. 3s of κατατρίβω, "wear down by rubbing") — an exact lexical match for the intensive-attritional sense of the Pael.

3. Ithpeel יִתְיַהֲבוּן — the divine passive

• Stem: Ithpeel (the tG-stem in Aramaic, cognate to Hebrew Niphal/Hithpael). The prefix ית־ marks the passive/reflexive of the Peal. The Aramaic passive system is stem-based (Ithpeel ↔ Peal; Ithpaal ↔ Pael; Hophal ↔ Haphel), not a separate voice morpheme as in Greek.
• Form: יִתְיַהֲבוּן — ית־ passive prefix + יהב root + imperfect 3mp ending. The impf. 3mp is formally the impersonal / indefinite-subject construction the Aramaic translator reaches for when the unnamed agent is God: "they-shall-be-given (into his hand)" = "it/he shall be given by an unnamed agent." This is the classic divine passive (passivum divinum).
• What is given: Antecedent is ambiguous by design — either the saints (from v. 25 clause 2, יְבַלֵּא־object), or the times and law (clause 4 object), or both. The grammar does not resolve it; the effect is that whatever belongs to the Most High's sphere is conceded into the horn's hand for a fixed term.
• Agent implied, not expressed: The passive is not a statement that the horn seizes, but that God permits. This is essential to the theology of the vision: even the horn's period of ascendancy is handed to him by divine decree, bounded by a divine term.
• Greek parallel: Theodotion renders יִתְיַהֲבוּן with δοθήσεται (future passive 3s of δίδωμι) — "it shall be given." The same Greek verb, now as aorist passive ἐδόθη, is used six times in Revelation 13 (vv. 5 [twice], 7 [twice], 14, 15) for the beast's authority, mouth, war against the saints, and time-limit of 42 months. Rev 13 is drawing directly on the Danielic template: the same divine-passive diction, the same horn-against-saints action, the same bounded time.

4. The duration formula: עַד־עִדָּן וְעִדָּנִין וּפְלַג עִדָּן

• Structure: עַד ("until") + three asyndetically-sequenced time-units: (a) עִדָּן (ms sg. absolute, "a time"), (b) וְעִדָּנִין (mp absolute, "and times"), (c) וּפְלַג עִדָּן (construct chain: "and half of a time").
• The middle term is plural, not dual. Biblical Aramaic has a dual (for natural pairs — eyes, hands, etc.) but עִדָּנִין is the standard masculine plural ending, not the dual ־ַיִן. Reading the middle term as "two times" (to force 1 + 2 + ½ = 3½) is a Septuagint-Theodotion-KJV interpretive equation, not a grammatical entailment. The plural is formally indefinite — "a time, and times, and half a time" is what the Aramaic says; the numeric equivalence "3½ times" is an inference matched by Dan 12:7 and Rev 12:14 parallels.
• Scope: The prepositional phrase modifies יִתְיַהֲבוּן (clause 5 predicate), not the Pael יְבַלֵּא of clause 2 directly. Syntactically the duration is the duration of the giving, i.e., the term of the horn's permitted custody of what-is-given. But because clause 5 is the narrative result of clauses 1–4 (their object is what is given), the duration functionally bounds the whole sequence.
• Parallel to Theodotion: ἕως καιροῦ καὶ καιρῶν καὶ ἡμίσους καιροῦ — three genitive time-units after ἕως, with ἡμίσους ("half") genitive-modifying καιροῦ, exactly mirroring the Aramaic construct פְלַג עִדָּן.

5. Sequence reversal in v. 26: the judgment follows the time-times-half-time

This is the load-bearing grammatical observation of the passage.

• Clause 1 of v. 26 is WXYq (waw + subject דִינָא + yiqtol יִתִּב) — a subject-fronted yiqtol. In Aramaic narrative-prophetic discourse this clause type is disjunctive / contrastive / scene-shifting. The parser assigns it Type WXYq (capital X = subject in pre-verbal position), distinct from the V-initial WYq0 clauses of v. 25 clauses 3 and 5.
• The fronted subject דִינָא ("the judgment") is the new topic. The contrastive force is: while (v. 25) the saints are being worn out and handed over for the time-times-half-time, but then (v. 26) the judgment sits.
• Temporal ordering is therefore explicit in the syntax:
• wearing-out begins (v. 25 cl. 2, Pael impf.)
• saints/times/law given into his hand for time-times-half-time (v. 25 cl. 5, Ithpeel impf. + עַד)
• THEN (v. 26 cl. 1, WXYq disjunctive) the judgment sits (יִתִּב, Peal impf. 3ms of יתב "to sit")
• THEN (v. 26 cl. 2, WxY0 coordinate-sequential) they take away his dominion (יְהַעְדּוֹן, Haphel impf. 3mp of עדה "to pass over/cause to pass")
• purpose/result: to consume and destroy unto the end (v. 26 clauses 3–4, two parallel InfC of purpose + עַד־סוֹפָא)
• Critical implication: The Aramaic does not allow the judgment to precede the time-times-half-time. The disjunctive WXYq marks the judgment as the next scene after the horn's bounded term. The saints are already in the horn's hand when the judgment sits.
• This is the template for Rev 13:5–10 and the Rev 12/13/14 sequence generally. Rev 13:5 ἐδόθη αὐτῷ… ποιῆσαι μῆνας τεσσεράκοντα [καὶ] δύο is the precise Greek echo of Dan 7:25's יִתְיַהֲבוּן… עַד־עִדָּן וְעִדָּנִין וּפְלַג עִדָּן; the judgment-sits of Rev 14:7ff. corresponds to Dan 7:26's וְדִינָא יִתִּב.

6. The Haphel infinitives of destruction (v. 26)

• לְהַשְׁמָדָה (Haphel InfCst of שׁמד "to exterminate, annihilate") and וּלְהוֹבָדָה (Haphel InfCst of אבד "to perish," causative "to destroy") are two parallel purpose-infinitives governed by the finite verb יְהַעְדּוֹן of clause 2 ("they shall take away … in order to consume and destroy").
• Haphel is the Aramaic causative stem (cognate to Hebrew Hiphil). Both infinitives name causative destruction — not a passive letting-go but an active, decreed elimination.
• עַד־סוֹפָא ("unto the end") fixes the terminus: the destruction is complete, not partial. The emphatic-state suffix ־ָא on סוֹפָא is the Aramaic definite article.
• Narrative contrast with v. 25's bounded term: The horn's possession is bounded by עַד + time-units (a duration); the horn's destruction is bounded by עַד + סוֹפָא (an endpoint). The first is a limit; the second is a completion.

Cross-References

• Grammar library (Aramaic — entries to create):
• aramaic/stem-pael.md — Pael intensive-factitive, with יְבַלֵּא as flagship example
• aramaic/stem-ithpeel.md — Ithpeel passive, with יִתְיַהֲבוּן and the passivum divinum pattern
• aramaic/syntax-wxyq-disjunctive.md — subject-fronted yiqtol as scene-shift / contrastive marker in Aramaic prophetic discourse
• aramaic/construct-time-time-half.md — the עִדָּן / עִדָּנִין / פְלַג עִדָּן duration formula (Dan 7:25, 12:7)
• Cross-corpus parallels:
• Dan 12:7 — מֹועֵד מֹועֲדִים וָחֵצִי (same duration, Hebrew: a time, times, and a half)
• Rev 12:14 — καιρὸν καὶ καιροὺς καὶ ἥμισυ καιροῦ (direct Greek calque of Dan 7:25 / 12:7)
• Rev 13:5 — ἐδόθη αὐτῷ (divine passive of δίδωμι, parallel to יִתְיַהֲבוּן)
• Rev 13:5 — μῆνας τεσσεράκοντα [καὶ] δύο (42 months = 3½ years, same term)
• Rev 13:7 — ἐδόθη αὐτῷ πόλεμον ποιῆσαι μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ νικῆσαι αὐτούς — the "wearing out of the saints" (Dan 7:25b) rendered Greek as making war and overcoming
• Grammar textbooks (via semantic_grammar.py):
• Pappas, Biblical Aramaic Basic Grammar pp. 21–25 (perfect/imperfect system), pp. 39–40 (Pael paradigm "intensely write")
• Johns, A Short Grammar of Biblical Aramaic p. 37 (imperfect/participle for future), p. 79 (Aphel/Haphel causative), p. 120 (Hophal passive)
• Rosenthal, A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic §§100–105 (stem system), §177 (divine-passive and impersonal 3mp)

---

Generated from: hebrew_parser.py --verse DAN 7:25 / 7:26, hebrew_parser.py --clause DAN 7:25 / 7:26, semantic_grammar.py (Pael "wear out"; Ithpeel passive). KJV and LXX-Theodotion (Rahlfs) text. Last updated: 2026-04-17