Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. (Romans 13:1-7, NKJV)

Read Jeremiah 20:1-18
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Read Jeremiah 18:1-11

"Oh, house of Israel can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. Look, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it."

Jeremiah 18:6-8, NKJV

“First of all, the study of the Bible,” he said in August. “Knowledge is a critical word. We want to give it [knowledge of the Scriptures] to every child in Israel, Jews and non-Jews as one, religious and secular. This is the basis of the new world, and the basis of Israel as a strong nation in the world.”

Read Jeremiah 17:1-13

Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited.

Jeremiah 17:5-6, NKJV

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8, NKJV

Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto one anointed, a prince,
shall be seven weeks.
Daniel 9:25 JPS, emphasis mine

 (Notice that the word Messiah is missing and replaced with “anointed” in the Jewish version of this verse. This is because the Jews never saw the word “Messiah” in their scriptures. They saw the word mashiach, which means “anointed.” It comes from the root word mashach, which means to “smear, rub, spread a liquid, or anoint.” It does not mean “Messiah” or “Saviour” as we Christians interpret it. It simply means “anointed,” nothing more. In addition, you will notice that the JPS has the word “one” before the word “anointed,” whereas, the NASB says “Messiah the Prince.” The NIV translates this part as “the Anointed One” and places the word “one” after anointed. Why is this important?

The word mashiach is used throughout Jewish scriptures no less than 100 times and refers to individuals, places, and objects. For example, it refers to priests, kings, and prophets (Leviticus 4:3; 1 Kings 1:39; Isaiah 61:1). It also refers to anointed places like the Temple altar (Exodus 40:9-11) and anointed things like unleavened bread (Numbers 6:15). And finally, it refers to King Cyrus, a non-Jewish King (Isaiah 45:1).

In Christian Bibles, 99 percent of the time, mashiach is translated as “anointed,” with two exceptions: Daniel 9:25 and 26. So the question one has to ask is this: why? Especially since in Daniel 9:24, mashiach was correctly translated as “anointed.” This does not make sense. It is inconsistent. You cannot translate mashiach to mean “anointed” in the entire Bible and then translate it to mean “Messiah” in two verses. I cannot explain why this was done. It’s as if those who originally translated this part of Daniel imposed their own Christian beliefs about what the verse actually means. I am not a linguist, but even I can see that something is odd here. How does one word translate to mean “anointed” everywhere else in the Christian Bible, but in Daniel 9:25-26 it translates as “the Messiah”? When you read the Torah (the Jewish Bible), it is immediately clear it has not been changed in this way.

I believe this is why the Jewish people get so upset with our interpretation of their scriptures. Imagine the audacity it takes to say to a Jewish person who speaks and reads Hebrew that they aren’t reading or interpreting their own scriptures correctly. That’s like trying to tell a Christian that Jesus didn’t die for their sins and He never existed. They would be adamant they are right, just as the Jews are adamant about their scriptures and the interpretation of them. We need to respect that and stop seeing things that aren’t there.

Daniel 9:25 should read as “until an anointed prince” and not as “until Messiah the prince.” And Daniel 9:26 should read, “An anointed one will be cut off” and not, “The Messiah will be cut off.” (Unlocking the Truth of Daniel, Copyright © 2016 by Laura J. Davis).