Book 4
Concerning the visions of the prophet Daniel1
Chapter 31
1. And so in order that the time when he is about to come may be shown which the blessed Daniel desired to see, he says, “And after seven weeks another sixty-two weeks,”4 which encompasses the time of four hundred and thirty-four years.
2. For after the people returned from Babylon their ruler Jesus son of Josedek and Ezra the scribe and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, who was from the tribe of Judah, four hundred and thirty-four years occurred, until the advent of Christ, so that the Priest of priests was shown in the world and he who took away the sins of the world was clearly demonstrated as John says concerning him, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”5
3. Similarly Gabriel also says, “and to erase unrighteousness and for sins to be atoned,”6
4. But who erases our unrighteousness? Paul the apostle teaches you. saying, “He himself became our peace, who has made the two one and who broke up the dividing wall, enmity in the flesh, having abolished the law of commandments in the decrees of the Law,”1 and “having erased our sins which were written against us, which were opposed to us, and taking it from our midst, affixing it to the cross,”2 and so “to erase unrighteousness and for unrighteousness to be atoned.”3
5. But who are they whose unrighteous are atoned except they who believe in his name and through good works are these atoned before his presence4?
4 Daniel 9:25
5 John 1:29
6 Daniel 9:24
1 Ephesians 2:14-15
2 Colossians 2:14
3 Daniel 9:24
4Lit: face
Chapter 32
1. Because after the people returned from Babylon four hundred and thirty and four years occurred until the generation5 of Christ, it is easy to perceive what has been set before.
2. For since the first covenant with the sons of Israel was given after four hundred and thirty-four years, it is absolutely necessary for the second also likewise to be determined in the same time, so that it may be expected by the people and may be easily recognized by the believers.
3. And on account of this Gabriel says, “And to anoint a Holy of Holies.”6
4. But no one is the Holy of Holies, except the Son of God alone, who comes and shows himself to be he who is anointed by the Father and was sent into the world; he said to them, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me, he sent me to evangelize the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to preach freedom to the captives and to restore sight to the blind, to preach an acceptable year of the Lord.”7
5. And so as many as have believed in the heavenly priest, these are cleansed by the same priest, and their sins are wiped away1. But as many as have disbelieved him, as setting him up to be nothing but a simple man, their sins are sealed as undiminished2.
6. From which the angel, foreseeing that all were not destined to believe in him, said, “to end sin and to seal sin.”3
7. For as many as disobeyed him until the end, their sins were ended and were sealed to be kept for judgment. But as many were destined to believe in him and confessed to him as able to forgive sin, their sins were wiped away4.
5 Lit: genesis
6 Daniel 9:24
7 Luke 4:18-19
1 Or: erased
2 Or: permanent
3 Daniel 9:24
4 Or: erased
Chapter 33
1. And on account of this he says, “And to seal vision and prophecy5.”6
2. For after the fullness of the law and the prophets he himself has come, for the law and the prophets were until John, it is necessary that the things which were spoken by them be sealed, so that at the advent of the Lord all things which have been loosed and all things which have been sealed, may be brought to light, and what was not able to be made known may easily be perceived, and that which was bound long ago now may be loosed by him.
3. As the Lord himself has said to the chiefs of the people, when they were angry at him when they saw him commanding powers on the day of the Sabbath and healing every disease and every sickness. But he said to them, “Hypocrites, each of you, looses the ox and the donkey from the stall and leads it away and gives it water. But this daughter, who is of Abraham, whom Satan has bound ten and eight years, is it not necessary for her to be loosed on the day of the Sabbath?”7.
4. And so as many as Satan has bound and ensnared, when the Lord comes he shall loose them from the bonds of death, having bound the strong man who was against us, and having freed humanity. As Isaiah also says, “Then he will speak to those in bonds, ‘Freedom’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be illuminated.’”1
5. But on account of all which was spoken long ago through the law and the prophets, which has been sealed and which was unknown to men, Isaiah says, And they will give the sealed book to a man skilled in letters and they will say to him, ‘Read this,’ and he will say ‘I am not able to read it, for it is sealed.’”2
6. For it is absolutely necessary that what was spoken long ago through the prophets to the unbelieving Pharisees, who pretended to know the letters of law, that it was sealed, but to those who believe all things, it was opened.
5 Or: a Prophet
6 Daniel 9:24
7 Luke 13:15-16
1 Isaiah 49:9
2 Isaiah 29:11
Chapter 34
1. And so all which has been sealed long ago now through the grace of the Lord, has been opened to the saints. For he himself was a perfect seal and key which is from David who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.
2. As also John says, “And I saw at the right hand of him who sat upon the throne a book written inside and out, which was sealed with seven seals. And I saw an angel preaching in a great voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?’ And no one was able in heaven nor upon the earth nor under the earth to open the book nor to look at it. And many were weeping because no one was found worthy to open the book nor to look at it. And the one from the elders says to me, ‘Do not weep. Behold, the lion from the tribe of Judah has conquered, the root and the offspring of David, and he opens the book and looses its seven seals.’ And I saw in the midst of the throne and in the midst of the elders a lamb standing, who was slain, who had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God which are sent on to all the earth. And he came and he took the book from the right hand of him who sat upon the throne, and when he took the book, the four creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sang a new song saying, ‘You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals because you were slain and you purchased us for God by your blood from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and you made a kingdom and priests for God and they shall reign upon the earth.’”1
3. And so he took the book and loosed it, so that what was spoken long ago secretly concerning him, now may be preached with boldness upon the rooftops.
4. And on account of this the angel said to Daniel, “Seal these words because the vision is of the end of time.” 2 But they did not say “Seal,” to Christ, but, “Loose what was bound long ago,” so that through his grace we may recognize the will of the Father and we may believe on that one whom he sent, Jesus Christ our Lord, the Savior of men.3
1 Revelation 5:1-10
2 Daniel 12:4, 9
3 Lit: upon the Savior of men
Chapter 35
1. Indeed it says, “and to return and a street and wall shall be built.”4 And it really happened. For the people returned and built this city and temple and its wall in a circle.
2. Then he says, “after sixty-two weeks, times shall be spun out5 and he shall set forth a covenant with many for one week. And in half of the week sacrifice and the drink offering shall be taken away and upon the Temple shall be an abomination of desolation.”1
3. For after sixty-two weeks was fulfilled and after Christ has come2 and the Gospel has been preached in every place, times having been spun out, the end remains one week away, in which Elijah and Enoch shall be present and in its half the abomination of desolation, the Antichrist, shall appear who threatens desolation of the world. After he comes, sacrifice and drink offering, which now in every way is offered by the nations to God, shall be taken away.3
4 Daniel 9:25
5 Or: exhausted
1 Daniel 9:27
2 That is his first advent
3 Hippolytus seems to interpret these as spiritual sacrifices not literal
sacrifices of the rebuilt Temple.
Daniel’s final vision
Chapter 36
1. In this way, after speaking these things, the prophet describes to us again another vision. For the blessed Daniel meditated on no other vision, lest he not be accurately taught all the things to come and he not teach and reveal these things to us again.
2. Indeed he says, “In the third year of Cyrus king of the Persians a word was revealed to Daniel, who was called the name Bel-teshazzar, and the word was true and great power and understanding was given to him in the vision. ‘In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning5 three weeks of days, I did not eat desirable bread and meat and wine did not enter my mouth and I did not anoint myself with oil for three full weeks of days. On the twenty and fourth day of the first month.’”6.
3. “I was humbled1,” he says, “twenty one days praying to the living God requesting from him the revealing of mysteries.”2
4. And then, after the Father heard, he sent his Word, thus pointing out what is about to happen through him and then that it would happen along the Great River. For the event is necessary to have happened there where the Son3 was demonstrated, where also he was about to forgive sins.4
5. “And I lifted,” he says, “my eyes and I saw, and behold, one man clothed in linen.” And so in the first vision he says, “Behold, the angel Gabriel came flying,”5 Here however he does not speak in this way, but he sees the Lord himself, not yet perfectly man, but appearing in the shape of a man just as he says, “And behold, one man clothed in linen.”6
6. For Christ being clothed with many cloaks of mystery, points out the manifold calling of gifts.7 Because the priestly cloak was equipped from different gifts in order to indicate that many nations await the advent of Christ, so that with many gifts we may be able to be equipped.8
4 This section is, at times, especially convoluted in the original Greek
5 πενθῶν
6 Daniel 10:1-4
1 Ἐταπεινοφρόνησα
2 Hippolytus appears to paraphrase Daniel 10:2
3 Lit: boy
4 Hippolytus confuses the Jordan with the Euphrates River
5 Daniel 9:21
6 Daniel 10:5
7 τὸ γὰρ ποικίλον τῆς κλήσεως τῶν χαρισµάτων ἐνδεδυµένος ὁ Χριστὸς
ποικίλον χιτῶνα µυστηρίῳ ἐπεδείκνυεν
8 ὅτι ἐκ διαφόρων χρωµάτων ἦν κατηρτισµένος ὁ ἱερατικὸς χιτὼν εἰς
ἔνδειξιν τῶν ποικίλων ἐθνῶν τὴν παρουσίαν Χριστοῦ προσδεχοµένων,
ἵνα ποικίλοις χαρίσµασιν καταρτισθῆναι δυνηθῶµεν
IChapter 37
1. “And his loins were girt in the gold of Ophaz.”9 Ophaz from the Hebrew indicates, having been translated into Greek, “pure gold.”
2. And so purity was around his loins like his belt. For the Word is about to bear all of us around his own body with his own love, as a strong10 belt. For his own body was itself perfect and we are its members, and have been united in a perfect body and are embraced1 by his word.
3. “And his body was like Tharsus.”2 Tharsus is interpreted as Ethiopian. For the prophet already proclaimed its difficult interpretation3, as the Word will be about to appear in the flesh in the world, he will be hard to recognize for many.
4. “And his face was like lightning and his eyes like lamps of fire.”4 For it is necessary for the fiery nature and the the judgment of the Word to be foretold, so that fire, having been righteously inflicted upon the impious, may consume them, but to the righteous and to those who hope in him, he offers deathless eternity.
5. He adds saying, “And his arms and feet were like burnished bronze,”5 so that the first calling of the fathers6 and second of the nations are indicated to be the same. For the last will be as the first, for he says, “I will set your chiefs as at the beginning and your rulers as the first.”7
6. “And his voice was like the voice of a great crowd.”8 For today all we who believe in him utter the oracles of Christ as through his mouth, speaking what is prescribed by him.
9 Daniel 10:5
10 σφίγξας
1 Or: borne
2 Daniel 10:6
3 δυσεπίγνωστον
4 Daniel 10:6
5 Daniel 10:6
6 Of the Old Testament
7 Isaiah 1:26
8 Daniel 10:6
Daniel’s vision of the 70 weeks
Chapter 38
1. “And, I, Daniel alone saw the vision.”9 For to the saints and to those who fear him, to these only he reveals himself.
2. For if one now expects this also to be conducted in the church,1 he has not the fear of God, and the assembly of the saints helps him in nothing, having not acquired the power of the Spirit in himself.
3. For also at that time, there were many who were standing with Daniel, but they did not see the vision for they were not worthy, but great astonishment2 fell upon them and they fled in fear.3
4. “And I,” he says, “was the only one left and I fell on my face upon the earth, and behold, with the hand of a man he touched me.”4 He says, “the hand of a man,” not yet a man, but indicating the coming of the economy through grace.
9 Daniel 10:7
1 Hippolytus appears to be claiming similar visions which Daniel saw
cannot also be seen in the church of his day
2 Or: ecstasy
3 Daniel 10:7
4 Daniel 10:8
Chapter 39
1. “And he raised me from my knees and said to me, ‘Daniel cherished man, understand in the words which I myself will speak to you and stand up in your place because now I am sent to you.’ And when he spoke this word I stood trembling and he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid Daniel because from the first day which you gave your heart to understand and to be afflicted before God, your words were heard.’”5
2. Behold, how strong the piety of the righteous man, so that the future things which have not yet been manifested in this world6, are revealed to the worthy alone.
3. First he was made to understand by the angel Gabriel, then secondly, by the Lord himself he was made wise.
4. For he spoke in this way, “And I saw, and behold, as an appearance of a son of man he touched me.”7 And so at first he said, “as the hand of a man,”1 but now he says, “as an appearance of a son of man,” so that at first it was partially shown to him, but secondly the whole human nature2 was put on and shown to him.
5. For the Word of God in the figure of a man is proclaimed as a man and is displayed in the world as an incarnate man, though not yet then being a son of man. But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, so that the Son of God may put on manhood3 from the Virgin and may be demonstrated as being the Son of God and the Son of Man.
6. “And he opened,” he says, “my mouth and I spoke to him who stood before me, ‘Lord in your appearance my insides were turned within me and I have no strength,’”4 for it it is necessary that the advent of the Lord happened upon the people above and below, so that those below may be able to
come to those above.5
7. “And he came close,” he says, “and he touched me as an appearance of a man and he strengthened me and he said to me, ‘Do not fear cherished man. Peace to you, be strong like a man.’”6 For when all the strength and glory of our life is ended, then we are empowered by the outstretched hand of Christ, who also raises us as the living from the dead and as from Hades to the resurrection of life.
5 Daniel 10:10-12
6 Or: only world
7 Daniel 10:16 1
Daniel 10:8
2 Lit: human nature according to the whole
3 ἄνθρωπον ἐπενδυσάµενος
4 Daniel 10:16
5 ἔδει γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ κυρίου τὰ ἄνω κάτω γενέσθαι, ἵνα καὶ
τὰ κάτω εἰς τὰ ἄνω ἐλθεῖν δυνηθῇ
6 Daniel 10:18-19
Chapter 40
1. “And when he spoke with me I was strengthened and I said, ‘Let my Lord speak because you have strengthened me.’”1
2. For when the Word makes us hope in the coming things, we are also easily able to hear his voice.
3. And so he says to him, “Do you know why I came to you? And now I will return to fight with the chief of the Persians, but I will proclaim to you what is written in the Scripture of truth, and there is no one who endures with me concerning these things except Michael your chief, and I left him there, for from the day you gave your face to be afflicted before your Lord God your petition was heard, and I myself was sent to fight with the chief of the Persians. For some plot happened to prevent me2 from coming to the people so that therefore in haste your request may be answered, I myself stood against him and I left Michael your chief there.3
4. But who is Michael, but the angel who is granted to the people, as he says to Moses, “I will not go with you on the way because the people are stiff necked, but my angel will go with you”?4
5. This one stood against Moses in the encampment when he carried the uncircumcised boy5 to Egypt. For it was not possible for Moses to be the elder and mediator of the law, who also announced the covenant of the fathers, and also to lead the uncircumcised boy, so that he may not be considered by the people as a false prophet and a deceiver.
1 Daniel 10:19
2 Lit: to not send
3 Daniel 10:10:12-14, 20-21
4 Exodus 33:3
5 Exodus 4:24-25
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