APPENDIX A - RUNNING TO AND FRO IN THE PROPHECIES

The clear intent of the Hebrew original of Daniel 12:4, the supporting evidence of the context, and its comparative rendering in the leading European translations, ^{1Modern European languages render the expression in Daniel 12:4 thus: 1. DANISH (1871): “Mange skal söge ivrigt i den, og Kundskab skal blive mangfoldig.” (Many shall seek anxiously in it and knowledge shall be increased.) (1913): “da skal mange lobe (og ransage den) og Kundskab skal blive mangfoldig.” (Then many shall run [and search it] and knowledge shall be widespread.) 2. FRENCH (Version Synodale): “Beaucoup de gens l’etudieront, et leur science en sera augmentee.” (Many will study it and their science [knowledge] will be augmented by it.) (Version Segond): “Plusieurs alors le liront, et la connaissance auginentera.” (Then many will read it, and knowledge will increase.) 3. GERMAN (Luther): “so werden vielle darüberkommen und grossen Verstand finden.” (Thus many will come in contact with it [go across it, as of a hurdle, come over it, or discover it], and they will find great understanding.) 4. PORTUGUESE (D’Almeida, 1932): “muitos correrao de uma parte para outra, e a sciencia se multiplicara.” (Many will run from one place to the other, and science will be multiplied.) 5. SPANISH (de Valers, 1602): “hasta el tiempo del fin: pasaran muchos, e multiplicarase la ciencia.” (Many will pass [or go through, as of a door], and science will be multiplied.) 6. SWEDISH “manga komma att rannsaka den, och insikten skall sa växa till.” (Many shall come and study it, and insight shall increase.) (1878): “Mange skola forska i den, och kunskapen skall blifva stor.” (Many shall search therein, and knowledge shall become great.)} all indicate that this running to and fro pertains primarily to the prophecies, a searching for the understanding of their intent, with resultant knowledge of light for the last days, shed by the book of Daniel. It obviously is a forecast of the great revival in prophetic exposition that came under the simultaneous awakening in the nineteenth century, in both the Old World and the New.PFF4 1209.1

As to the text itself, the literal rendering of the Hebrew of the last part of Daniel 12:4 is really, “Many shall urgently run to and fro, and the knowledge shall be increased.” ^{2Translation and note by R. E. Loasby: See also Gesenius, Hebrew Grammar, Revised Mitchell ed., p. 132. Here the primary idea of Piel (future of Polel) is urgency, especially that which is self-impelled (a busy doing). Hence it denotes intensity and repetition. It indicates that the action has to do with many—the eager performance of an action makes the agent influence others also in the same direction.} Taffel’s Hebrew Interlinear critical note (p. 18) reads: “run up and to, to read through or over, peruse.” The same verb used by Daniel occurs in identical form in Amos 8:12: “They shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.” But here the infinitive, “to seek,” is introduced from another verb not in Daniel. And the verb “shut,” in Daniel 12:4, is followed by the parallel of the clause, “that the knowledge may increase.” The definite article is given in the Hebrew—“the knowledge”—and must mean “the knowledge of the book” which had been sealed, and later was to be understood. So the clause, concerning running to and fro, meets its fulfillment in arriving at an understanding of the book of Daniel.PFF4 1209.2