235 THE OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND “ LAST HOUR ” OF THE “ hour ” (wra) refers not generally to the eschaton but to the specif- ™ ic eschatological time when the opponent of God’s people will attempt to deceive them or when they will suffer tribulation in connection to this deception. For example, the relevant Hebrew and Greek texts of Daniel 8 and 10–12 have the following: Daniel 8,17.19; 10,14; 11,35.40; 12,1 Daniel 8,17.19; 10,14; 11,35.40; 12,1 (OG [not Theod.]) (MT) 8,17b : “ Son of man, understand, for 8,17b : “Son of man, understand yet unto the hour of time [eıv wran ß™ that the vision pertains to the time kairoy] is this vision”. ˜ of the end [≈qAt[l]” 8 ,19 : “He said, ‘Behold, I am 8,19 : “And he said to me, ‘behold I going to let you know what will am announcing to you what will occur at the final period of the occur at the end of the wrath [epÃ ß indignation [μ[zh tyrjab], for it esxatoy thv orghv] to the sons of ߥ ˜ß˜ pertains to the appointed time of your people; for yet unto the hour the end [≈q d[wml]’ ”. of time of the end it will remain [ e ı v w r a v kairoy s y n t e l e ¥ a v ß™ ˜ ı meneı]’ ”. ˜ 10,14 : (OG MSS. 967 and 88-Syh), 10,14 : “Now I have come to give “ and I have come to inform you you an understanding of what will what will happen to your people in happen to your people in the latter the last days [epÃesxatoy twn ßߥ ˜ days [μymyh tyrjab], for the vision hmerwn], for the hour is yet for Ω ˜ p e r t a i n s to the days yet future m a ny days [e t i ga r w r a eı v ¶ ù ™ ß [μymyl –wzj dw[Ayk]”. hmerav] ”. 12 Ω¥ The Hebrew of Dan 10,14 reads “what will happen to your people in the 12 latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet”. Most MSS of the OG have eti gar orasiv eıv hmerav (“ for the vision is yet for days”) and Theod. ¶ ù™ ß Ω¥ virtually identically has oti eti h orasiv eıv hmerav (“ because the vision is ™ ¶ Ω™ ßΩ¥ yet for days”), which are literal Greek equivalents for the MT’s “for the vision pertains to the days yet”. However, some old Greek MSS (967 and 88-Syh) have “for the hour (wra) is yet for days”, by which “hour” (wra) is ™ ™ substituted for “vision” (orasiv), likely intentionally so on analogy with Dan ™ 8,17, where the two words occur closely together (eti gar eıv wran kairoy ¶ ù ß™ ˜ toyto to orama), though it is possible that oraiv was unintentionally mis- ˜ ù™ ™ read as wra. This would mean that in 10,14 either “hour” is a scribal epexe- ™ gesis of the directly preceding “latter days” or, if accidental, it would nevertheless likely have been understood by some later readers as such an epexegesis. The introductory gar (“ for ”) of v. 14 is likely explanatory, so that ¥ the following “hour” and “days” are synonymous with the preceding “latter