The wording of this verse is unusual, but its meaning is relatively clear. It literally reads “The arms of the overflowing will overflow before him and will be broken, and also the leader of the covenant.” But Revised Standard Version and several other English versions change the text slightly to read “utterly” in place of “overflowing.”

Armies: literally “The arms,” but used here in the sense of “the armed forces” or any opposition forces. See comments on “forces” in verse 15. On the verb “overflow” compare “flood” in 9.26 and comments on “overflow” in verse 10 of this chapter.

Be … swept away before him and broken: the two passive ideas may easily be rendered actively as “he (the king of the north) will sweep over and destroy” or something similar. Revised English Bible reads “As he advances, he will sweep away all forces of opposition.”

The prince of the covenant: or “covenant leader” (New Jerusalem Bible), “the head of the priests,” or to be quite precise, “God’s High Priest” (Moffatt as well as Good News Translation). See 9.25. This refers most probably to Onias III, the Jewish High Priest who was assassinated in 171 B.C. by order of Antiochus IV.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René & Ellington, John. A Handbook on Daniel. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .