DANIEL 12:2
General Resurrection?
“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
RELATED MATERIALS
Daniel 12:1-2 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. |
Mark 13:14-19 But when ye see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not (let him that readeth understand), then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains: and let him that is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out his house: and let him that is in the field not return back to take his cloak. But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days! And pray ye that it be not in the winter. For those days shall be tribulation, such as there hath not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never shall be. |
Job 19:26 | II Corinthians 5:4
Alan Richardson
“The fact is that in the New Testament zoe, or more fully zoe aionios, is an eschatological conception; it is one of the characteristic marks of the Age to Come, like glory, light, etc. In the contemporary rabbinic conception, the Age to Come (cf. Mark 10.30, ho erchomenos aion; Heb. 6.5, ho mellon aion), as distinct from this age (ho nun aion or ho aion hou-tos), was to be characterized by zoe, that is, zoe aionios, the life of the (coming) aion. Thus, what appears in EVV as ‘eternal life’ or ‘life everlasting’ really means ‘the life of the Age to Come’. The phrase zoe aionios need not necessarily imply ever-lasting life (e.g. Enoch 10.10), but the usual meaning is life after death indefinitely prolonged in the World to Come (Dan. 12.2; Test. Asher 5.2; Ps. 501. 3.16; II (4) Esd. 7.12f.; 8.52-54). (An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament, pp.73,74)
John F. Walvoord (1962)
“… many careful students of premillennial truth have come to the conclusion that the opinion that Israel’s resurrection occurred at the time of the rapture was a hasty one and without proper Scriptural foundation. It seems far more preferable to regard the resurrection of Daniel 12:2 as a literal one following the tribulation, but not to be identified with the pretribulational rapture of the church… The church will be raised at the time of the rapture before the tribulation, and the Old Testament saints, including Israel, at the beginning of the millennial reign of Christ. ” (Israel in Prophesy (1962; reprint, Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1977), 116, 118. )
IS DANIEL 12:2 SPEAKING OF THE GENERAL RESURRECTION?
John Calvin
“The angel seems here to mark a transition from the commencement of the preaching of the gospel, to the final day of the resurrection, without sufficient occasion for it. For why does he pass over the intermediate time during which many events might be the subject of prophecy? He unites these two subjects very fitly and properly, connecting the salvation of the Church with the final resurrection and with the second coming of Christ. Wheresoever we may look around us, we never meet with any source of salvation on earth. The angel announces the salvation of all the elect.” (Commentary)
James Coffman (1989)
“The denials of most critical scholars that the general resurrection is here promised should be set aside. The passage cannot possibly refer to anything else.” “To deny this is to assert that Daniel made a false prophecy, because there has never been even until this day such a resurrection as is promised here.” (Commentary on Daniel, TX: ACU Press, 1989, p. 183-184)
Edward Fudge (1976)
“Even scholars who tend to discount Old Testament references to the final resurrection acknowledge it in this verse. H.H. Rowley calls Daniel 12:2 ‘the only clear and universally recognized reference to resurrection in the Old Testament,’ according to Thomas E. Ridenhour, ‘Immortality and Resurrection in the Old Testament,’ Dialogue, 15 (Spring 1976), p. 107)
Jim McGuiggan (1978)
“Is it the final resurrection? A lot depends on what we do with “at that time.” A lot depends on what we do with the “king” of 11:36-45. A lot depends on what we do with “the last days.” A lot depends on what we do with 12:6-7.. I believe because of these exegetical issues that this resurrection is not the final resurrection.” (The Book of Daniel, TX: Montex Publishing, 1978, p. 185)
Dr. Paul Pollard (1990)
“The most clear and undisputed reference in the Old Testament to resurrection, however, is Daniel 12:2.” (“Recent Studies on 1 Corinthians,” in The Church of God in a Pagan World, AR: Harding U., 1990, p. 218)
Dr. Neale Pryor (1972)
“It would be in order to list this passage among those that refer to life after death in the Prophets.” (“Eschatological Expectations in the Old Testament,” in The Last Things, TX: Sweet Publishing, 1972, p. 51.)
![]() |
DANIEL 12:2 IN THE VERSIONS
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (WEB)
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (ASV)
And a number of those who are sleeping in the dust of the earth will come out of their sleep, some to eternal life and some to eternal shame. (BBE)
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame, to everlasting contempt. (DBY)
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (KJV)
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (WBS)
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence. (JPS)
And the multitude of those sleeping in the dust of the ground do awake, some to life age-during, and some to reproaches — to abhorrence age-during. (YLT)