237 THE OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND “ LAST HOUR ” OF THE loosely connected to synteleia in 12,4). These are the only two ¥ places in the entire Greek Old Testament where the two words occur in close connection. For example, in Dan 8,19, “at the end [epà esxatoy] of the wrath” (or “the wrathful end”, as an adjec- ßߥ tival genitive) is further explained directly by the phrase “unto the hour of time of the end (eıv wrav kairoy synteleıav) ” or “unto ß™ ˜ ¥ the hour of the end time” (taking synteleıav as an adjectival ¥ genitive). This is virtually equivalent to 1 John’s esxath wra. ߥ ™ Perhaps Dan 11,40 is closest to 1 John, where the phrase “the hour of the end” (wran synteleıav) occurs and refers to the end-time ™ ¥ opponent’s hostile activities, though synteleia instead of esxath ¥ ߥ occurs there in the OG 14. The word synteleia in the phrase wran ¥ ™ synteleıav of Dan 11,40 can easily be taken as an adjectival geni- ¥ tive, with the rendering of “ending hour” or “final hour” or “con- summative hour”. If any of these adjectival renderings were correct, they would be even more strikingly similar to 1 John’s “ last hour”. It is not completely clear how wra (“ hour ”) functions when it ™ is used in conjunction with kairov (“ time ”) in the OG of Dan ¥ 8,17.19, and 11,35. Elsewhere in the LXX the two terms occur together. In such cases, they can be used synonymously to refer to the same period (2 Kgs 4,16-17; Job 5,26; Hos 2,11; Dan 4,26 [OG]), or “hour” can be a particular part of the more general “ time ” (Gen 18,10.14), or, on the other hand, “time” can be a particular part of a broader “hour” (Exod 13,10). “The hour” of “ the end-time” in Dan 8,19 appears to designate a particular time of the broader “end-time” period, and this clarifies that the “hour” in 8,17 (“unto the hour of time”) has the same idea 15. Identically, “ the hour” of “the end-time” in Dan 11,35 indicates a specific moment of the more general “end-time”. In both Dan 8,19 and 11,35, wra translates the Hebrew d[wm (“ appointed time”), which ™ underscores the divinely set notion of the “hour”. Note that in the LXX synteleia renders tyrja in Deut 11,12 (“the eyes ¥ 14 of the Lord thy God are upon it [i.e., the land] from the beginning of the year to the end of the year”); the related Greek word teleytaıov (“ last, final”) ˜ translates tyrja in Prov 14,12-13; 16,25; 20,21. It is possible, however, that “time” in 8,19 is an appositional genitive, 15 yielding the rendering of “unto an hour, which is the end-time”, and “time” in 8,17 may function likewise, “unto the hour which is the time”.