אַחֲרִית

From the study of Daniel 2:28

Range of meaning

Literally 'in the after-part of the days'. It is the Aramaic form of the Hebrew phrase bĕʾaḥărît hayyāmîm. Its uses range from 'in days to come / in the future' (Gen 49:1; Num 24:14; Deut 4:30; 31:29) to the decisive future when God sets things right (Isa 2:2; Mic 4:1; Ezek 38:16; Hos 3:5; Dan 10:14).

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB have 'the latter days', and YLT has 'the latter end of the days'. NIV has 'in days to come', which is closer to the phrase's basic meaning but loses its sense of history heading toward a goal. Modern readers often hear 'the latter days' as 'the final end-times period just before the world ends'. That is narrower and more technical than the phrase itself.

How it drifted

Popular end-times teaching made 'the latter days' / 'last days' a technical label for a final period at the close of history, often thought to be the reader's own time. The phrase itself means the future beyond the speaker's present, often with the sense of where things finally lead.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Genesis 49:1 Jacob uses it of his sons' tribes' future. In Deuteronomy 4:30 Moses uses it of Israel's future repentance. In Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1 it marks the future raising up of Zion. In the Dead Sea Scrolls (e.g. 4QFlorilegium, 1QSa) ʾaḥărît hayyāmîm is a fully end-time term for the time of the messiahs and the final testing. The Greek versions of Daniel render it ἐπ᾽ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ('at the last of the days').