The Hebrew text of verses 26 and 27 is uncertain and obscure in several places.
After the sixty-two weeks: instead of repeating the actual time period from the previous verse, it is possible to make a more general reference to this period, as in Good News Translation “at the end of that time.”
An anointed one: see verse 25.
Shall be cut off: the verb translated cut off is not used previously in Daniel but is frequent elsewhere in the Old Testament. In some contexts it means “excommunicated from the people of God.” But here and in many other places it means “be put to death” or “be destroyed” (Gen 9.11, for example). Also, where necessary the passive formulation may be made active by using something like “disappear” (New Jerusalem Bible) or simply “die.”
And shall have nothing: these words have given rise to a great deal of guesswork as to what the writer really meant. King James Version translated them “but not for himself.” Other interpretations are (1) “leaving no one to succeed him” (An American Translation and Moffatt); (2) “when the city is no longer his” (New American Bible and Anchor Bible); (3) “with no one to take his part” (New English Bible); (4) “and vanish” (New Jerusalem Bible); (5) “unjustly” (Good News Translation); and (6) “his Kingdom still unrealized” (Living Bible). This wide variety of possible translations simply shows that no one knows what this passage means. Nevertheless the translator is forced to make a choice. The textual change proposed by New American Bible and Anchor Bible is quite appealing. The translator can therefore possibly translate the idea “when he does not possess the city.”
The people of the prince who is to come: in this context the word translated people refers to “troops” or “soldiers,” as in Judges 5.2 and 2 Sam 10.13. New Jerusalem Bible rightly translates “the army of a leader.”
Its end shall come with a flood: literally “his (or its) end is a flood.” It is unclear what the intended antecedent of the pronoun is. It can be either the leader with his invading army or the city with its sanctuary. If the latter interpretation is adopted, it may be necessary to translate “they (the city and the sanctuary) will come to an end like a flood” or “the city with its Temple will be destroyed as in a flood.” The flood is to be understood figuratively and not in its literal sense. The former interpretation, which is perhaps more likely, can be rendered as in New Jerusalem Bible, “The end of that prince will be catastrophe.” This solution is also preferred by New Jerusalem Bible and Bible en français courant.
To the end there shall be war: this will have to be reworded in a number of languages, and in some cases it will be necessary to state more specifically the meaning of the end. A possible model is “war will continue until the end of that period of time (referring to the sixty-two weeks).”
Desolations are decreed: in a number of languages it will be necessary to reformulate this passive expression and make it clear that it is God who decreed the destruction.
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 .