The eighth and ninth chapters of the great prophecy of Daniel are closely connected. (After you complete the DISCOVER Guides, you will have the opportunity to take a bible course on Daniel that gives a detailed explanation of both chapters.)

In the eighth chapter of Daniel, an angel showed the prophet a great panorama of the future. Daniel saw a ram and a he-goat, representing respectively Medo-Persia and Greece (Daniel 8:1-12, 20-26).

What is the fourth part of the prophecy?

“‘How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled—the vision concerning the daily sacrifice . . . ?’ He said to me, ‘It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings [or days, KJV]; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated [cleansed, KJV].’”
—Daniel 8:13, 14.

Daniel fainted before the angel could explain the 2,300-day part of the prophecy, and the eighth chapter closes with no interpretation of it. But later the angel reappeared and stated:

“I have now come to give you insight and understanding. . . . Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision: seventy ‘sevens’ [margin: weeks] are decreed [cut off, KJV] for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness . . . .”
—Daniel 9:22-24.

The 2,300 days are, of course, 2,300 years, each day standing for a year (Ezekiel 4:6). Seventy weeks, or 490 years, constituted the first section of the longer period of 2,300 years. Both time periods started in 457 B.C. when Persia issued the decree “to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.” Subtracting 490 years from the 2,300 years, leaves 1,810. Adding 1,810 years to A.D. 34, when the 490 years ended, brings us to A.D. 1844.