What is 'a time, times, and half a time' in Daniel 7:25?
The formula '1 + plural + ½' marks the bounded duration of the final oppressor's authority — three and a half periods. It appears in Aramaic in Daniel 7:25, in Hebrew in Daniel 12:7, and in Greek in Revelation 12:14, where John copies the Septuagint phrasing almost word for word.
"A time, times, and half a time" is Daniel's way of putting a firm boundary on the final oppressor's authority. God is not saying "this will last a long time." He is saying "this will last exactly this long — no more."
The formula appears first in Daniel 7:25, in Aramaic:
"They will be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time." — Daniel 7:25
The word "time" here is עִדָּן (iddan, H5732) — Aramaic for a set period. The structure is: one iddan, then iddanin (plural), then "and half an iddan." That is: 1 + 2 (or more) + ½ = 3½. The word for "half" is פְלַג (pelag, H6387), used only this once in the entire canon for this purpose.
Then the same formula reappears in Daniel 12:7, now in Hebrew:
"For an appointed time, appointed times, and a half." — Daniel 12:7
Different words entirely. The Hebrew uses מוֹעֵד (moed, H4150) — the word for appointed times and feasts — instead of the Aramaic iddan. The word for "half" is חֵצִי (chatsi, H2677) instead of Aramaic pelag. But the structure is identical: 1 + plural + ½. The same three-and-a-half-period formula, stated twice in two different languages in the same book, about the same period of oppression.
The Septuagint — the Greek translation of Daniel made about 200 years before Christ — renders both passages using the same Greek word: καιρός (kairos, G2540), "appointed time." Then Revelation 12:14, written in the first century AD, quotes the formula nearly word for word from the Greek translation:
"For a time and times and half a time." — Revelation 12:14
John did not invent a new phrase. He copied the Septuagint's Daniel 7:25 directly into Revelation.
Revelation then converts the same period into different units in multiple places: 42 months (Revelation 11:2, 13:5) and 1,260 days (Revelation 11:3, 12:6). The arithmetic checks out: 3½ years × 360 days = 1,260; 42 months of 30 days = 1,260. Three and a half periods, 42 months, and 1,260 days are all the same span, described five times across Revelation in matching the Daniel formula.
Two additional numbers appear at the end of Daniel: 1,290 days (Daniel 12:11) and 1,335 days (Daniel 12:12). The text gives no arithmetic explanation for the extra 30 and 75 days. We note them and stop — the text is silent, and silence is the honest position.
What the formula does tell us is this: the authority of the oppressor is bounded. He receives it for a defined period. He does not go on indefinitely. The same text that says he will "wear out the holy ones" (Daniel 7:25) also says his dominion will be removed "unto the end" (Daniel 7:26). The time-formula is God's declaration that he has set the clock.
For the full three-language comparison — Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek side by side — the study Cut Without Hands lays out every occurrence with the original words.
Are the little horn in Daniel 7 and the little horn in Daniel 8 the same person?
Yes — the same five descriptors apply to both: small origin, persecution of the holy ones, speaking against God, an end-time frame, and destruction without human agency. The Greek translation of Daniel renders both with identical vocabulary, and the statistical overlap is high enough to be definitive.
Is the European Union the revived Roman Empire of Daniel 2?
The EU-as-Rome theory reads the statue's legs as Western Rome only and expects a future ten-nation European superstate, but the grammar of Daniel 2 describes two legs — both iron — representing East and West Rome together, not one leg waiting to be revived.
What does 'cut without hands' mean in Daniel?
In Daniel 2:34, a stone is cut from a mountain 'not by hands' — the Aramaic phrase negates dual hands, meaning no human agent shaped it. The stone represents a kingdom God himself sets up, without any human instrument, that destroys all previous empires and fills the whole earth.
Why does Revelation quote Daniel so much?
Revelation does not just allude to Daniel — it is structurally built from Daniel's Greek vocabulary. Measured by character-level text similarity, 75–80% of the distinctive vocabulary of Revelation's apocalyptic core comes from the Greek translation of Daniel 7, and John's ten-horned beast in Revelation 13 carries the bodies of all four of Daniel's beasts in one.