H7620 — What Does "Weeks" Really Mean in Daniel 9?

Pronunciation: shaw-BOO-ah

Literal meaning: "sevened" — a unit of seven. Not automatically days. Context determines what it is seven of.

Strong's definition: "properly passive participle of H7650 as a denominative of H7651; literally sevened, that is, a week (specifically of years)"

Where to find it: Page 293 of the Complete KJV Strong's Hebrew Concordance in your Resource Library, or Blue Letter Bible H7620 entry for the full lexicon page with every occurrence in Scripture.

Daniel 10:2–3: Daniel mourns for "three full weeks" — in Hebrew: shavuim yamim — "weeks of DAYS." He adds the word yamim (days) to make it unambiguous.

Daniel 9:24: "Seventy weeks are decreed" — in Hebrew: shivim shabuim — NO word for days. Completely absent.

Conclusion: Daniel knew exactly how to write "seven-day weeks" when he meant them. In chapter 9 he deliberately left "days" out. That is not accident — it signals a different unit of seven.

Normally the plural of "week" in Hebrew is shavuot — a feminine ending. In Daniel 9 it uses the masculine plural shabuim — the same ending used for shanim (years).

This grammatical signal, unique to Daniel 9 in all of the Old Testament, points a Hebrew reader toward years, not days. It is one of four lines of evidence — but it is not accidental.

Numbers 14:34: God tells Israel they will wander 40 years — "one year for each of the 40 days" the spies explored Canaan. Day = Year, stated explicitly by God.

Ezekiel 4:6: God tells Ezekiel to lie on his side a set number of days — "I have assigned you one day for each year." Day = Year, stated explicitly by God.

These are not interpretive suggestions — they are explicit divine statements. The principle is built into Scripture by God Himself.

If weeks = literal 7-day weeks: 70 × 7 = 490 days = just over one year. Impossible to fit the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the arrival of Messiah, and the destruction of the Temple into one year.

If weeks = 7-year periods: 70 × 7 = 490 years. Starting from Artaxerxes' decree (444 BC), 483 years (69 weeks) = AD 33 — the year of Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Fulfilled to the year.

The 70th week: The final 7-year period = the Tribulation. Still future. The gap between week 69 and week 70 = the Church Age we are in now.

The ancient Jewish people had "sevens of years" built into their law and culture. They farmed for six years and let the land rest on the seventh — the Sabbatical Year (Lev 25). Seven times seven years = 49 years, with the 50th being the Jubilee. The high priest even asked Alexander the Great for tax relief every seventh year.

A "week of years" = seven years was completely natural to any Jewish person hearing Daniel's prophecy. The English word "weeks" forces a meaning onto the text that the original Hebrew does not require.

1. Open the Complete KJV Strong's Hebrew Concordance from your Resource Library

2. The Hebrew dictionary is at the back of the document — scroll past the English concordance

3. Entries are numbered sequentially — go to the 7600s section and find 7620

4. Or use Blue Letter Bible H7620 lexicon page — direct link with full definition and every occurrence; or visit blueletterbible.org and search Daniel 9:24 → click Tools → click the word "weeks"