Hi JLB, hope all is well with you.
"Now in verse 27 we see the Temple
"language" and activities being both
initiated and interrupted by the same
"he", which by all grammatical sense, refers
to the last person mentioned in the referenced prophetic verbiage"
The problem, as I see it, is that the pronoun 'he' actually modifies the last 'subject of the sentence' mentioned.
So in the sentence " the people, of the prince" the subject of the sentence is 'the people'. 'of the prince' is a prepositional phrase modifying (describing) 'the people'.
We know that 'he' cannot be talking about 'the people' so we have to go back to the sentences before to find the last 'masculine subject of a sentence'.
I believe I am correct about this in both English and Greek (so how does the LXX translate it from the Hebrew)? Did both the KJV and the NASB incorrectly constructed the sentence in v26 when translating into English.
Well maybe???
Young's Literal Translation
25And thou dost know, and dost consider wisely, from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem till Messiah the Leader
is seven weeks, and sixty and two weeks: the broad place hath been built again, and the rampart, even in the distress of the times.
26 And after the sixty and two weeks, cut off is Messiah, and the city and the holy place are not his, the Leader who hath come doth destroy the people; and its end
is with a flood, and till the end
is war, determined
are desolations.
27And he hath strengthened a covenant with many -- one week, and
in the midst of the week he causeth sacrifice and present to cease, and by the wing of abominations he is making desolate, even till the consummation, and that which is determined is poured on the desolate one.'
This translation may give you some relief from the above rule seeing 'the Leader' does appear to be the subject with "who hath come" being the modifier (I
think. This from an A+ grammar student. But it's been a long time now!:
)
L.C.L. Brenton's Translation of the LXX (1851)
25 And thou shalt know and understand, that from the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem until Christ the prince
there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks; and then
the time shall return, and the street shall be built, and the wall, and the times shall be exhausted.
26 And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one shall be destroyed, and there is no judgment in him: and he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is coming: they shall be cut off with a flood, and to the end of the war which is rapidly completed he shall appoint
the city to desolations.
27 And one week shall establish the covenant with many: and in the midst of the week my sacrifice and drink-offering shall be taken away: and on the temple
shall be the abomination of desolations; and at the end of time an end shall be put to the desolation.
I don't think this translation is completely accurate because in the Hebrew text called the (WLS), which is considered the most authoritative by most Jews, It does use the word "om" or "am" translated people/nation. This translation doesn't even use the word people or nation at all.
So if we just stay honest about the grammar what do you think?
Blessings