The last or end , hence, the future ; also posterity
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אַחֲרִית (acharith) is the Hebrew word for the end — not merely the chronological conclusion but the final outcome that reveals what something really was. Indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 61 OT occurrences, it is the word behind the phrase 'latter days' (acharith hayamim) that the prophets use for the eschatological age, the word behind Jeremiah's 'future and a hope,' and the word behind Proverbs'.
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Full entry for אַחֲרִית (H319) · Open the biblical lexicon
אַחֲרִית (acharith) is the Hebrew word for the end — not merely the chronological conclusion but the final outcome that reveals what something really was. Indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 61 OT occurrences, it is the word behind the phrase 'latter days' (acharith hayamim) that the prophets use for the eschatological age, the word behind.
The BSB source-word alignment has 61 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include in the end (6), In the last (4), to come (4), In the latter (3), the end (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 49:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (13), Jeremiah (10), Deuteronomy (6), Daniel (5).
אַחֲרִית (acharith) is the Hebrew word for the end — not merely the chronological conclusion but the final outcome that reveals what something really was. Indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 61 OT occurrences, it is the word behind the phrase 'latter days' (acharith hayamim) that the prophets use for the eschatological age, the word behind Jeremiah's 'future and a hope,' and the word behind Proverbs' repeated warnings about the acharith of the way that seems right. What ends up being true is what the acharith reveals.
Jeremiah 29:11 is the most pastorally loaded acharith text: 'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for shalom (H7965) and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (laset lakhem acharith vetiqvah).' The word translated 'future' is acharith — literally, the latter end, the final outcome. YHWH's promise to the exiles in Babylon is that their acharith is secured: even in deportation, even seventy years from home, the acharith belongs to God's planning (machashabot, H4284), not to Babylon's agenda. The acharith they could not see from exile was already determined by YHWH.
Proverbs uses acharith most frequently and most starkly. Proverbs 14:12 (and 16:25, the same verse twice): 'There is a way that seems right (yashar) to a man, but its acharith is the ways of death.' The way looks right; the acharith reveals it was not. Proverbs 23:17-18 offers the positive: 'Let your heart not envy sinners... for surely there is an acharith, and your hope will not be cut off.' The acharith of the righteous is not cut off — it stands. The acharith of the wicked is cut off (Ps 37:38).
The prophets use acharith hayamim (latter days) for the eschatological turning point: 'In the acharith of the days, the mountain of the house of YHWH will be established as the highest of the mountains' (Isa 2:2, Mic 4:1). The phrase does not specify a precise date but identifies a period of divine action that will resolve history. Daniel uses acharith to frame the visions given to him (Dan 10:14: 'to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the acharith of the days').
For the preacher, אַחֲרִית (acharith) is the word that asks: what will the end reveal? Every apparent success, every apparent failure, every way that seems right — the acharith is the verdict. And YHWH holds the acharith.
אַחֲרִית (acharith) is indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 61 OT occurrences. Numbers uses it for the death of the righteous as a desired acharith. Proverbs uses it repeatedly for the final outcome that vindicates or condemns a way of life. Psalms contrasts the acharith of the upright (peace) with the acharith of the wicked (cut off). Jeremiah uses it for the secured eschatological outcome of the exiles.
The prophets use acharith hayamim for the eschatological era. Daniel uses it for the end-times revealed in vision. The word consistently orients the reader away from the present appearance of things toward the final outcome that God controls.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
The acharith as secured divine promise to the exiles: the Hebrew is laset lakhem acharith vetiqvah (to give you a latter-end and a hope). The acharith here is not abstract optimism but a specific divine pledge: YHWH's machashabot (plans, thoughts) are for shalom, and the acharith will prove it. The seventy years of exile are not the acharith — they are the passage through which the real acharith comes.
The letter that contains this promise (Jer 29) was sent to people who could not see the end from where they were standing. The acharith promise is most needed by those in the middle of the story.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
The acharith as the verdict on the way that seems right (yashar). Proverbs gives this warning twice (14:12, 16:25 — verbatim repetition) to underscore its importance: the appearance of rightness at the start does not guarantee the acharith. The acharith of this way is 'ways of death' (darkei mavet). The practical application is the necessity of divine wisdom rather than human self-assessment — only the one who knows the acharith (YHWH) can reliably judge the way at the beginning.
Consider the blameless and observe the upright, for posterity awaits the man of peace.
The acharith of the man of shalom (ish shalom): 'there is an acharith for the man of peace.' Psalm 37 is the wisdom psalm that addresses the apparent prosperity of the wicked. Its answer is eschatological: wait, trust, the acharith will show the truth. Verse 38 gives the contrast: 'But the wicked will be destroyed; the acharith of the wicked will be cut off.'
The two acharith-endings stand in permanent contrast throughout Proverbs and Psalms: one is secured, one is cut off. The congregation that appears outpaced by the wicked is still on the path to the better acharith.
In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
The eschatological acharith hayamim (latter days): the final period of history in which the mountain of YHWH's house becomes the highest and all nations stream to it. This is acharith as the telos of history, not just personal endings. The nations' streaming (nahar) is the same word used for rivers — an unstoppable flow toward the mountain. This acharith is the inversion of the present: currently the nations are scattered and hostile; in the acharith they will come.
Isaiah 2:2-4 and Micah 4:1-3 share this oracle — its double appearance signals its centrality.
Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!”
Balaam's involuntary blessing: 'let my acharith be like his.' Even a non-Israelite prophet, when confronted with the reality of Israel's God and Israel's future, wants his acharith to be the acharith of the righteous. The acharith of the upright is desirable — worth wanting, worth dying into. This is acharith as the supreme personal aspiration: not wealth or status in the present, but the death and the acharith of those who belong to YHWH.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Final outcome or consummation; carries eschatological weight—God's ultimate purpose and Israel's future destiny.
Final outcome or consummation; carries eschatological weight—God's ultimate purpose and Israel's future destiny.
the last or end, hence, the future; also posterity BDB: after-part Usage: (last, latter) end (time), hinder (utter) -most, length, posterity, remnant, residue, reward.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 61 lexical occurrence verses.
אַחֲרִית is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
אַחֲרִית (acharith) gives the preacher the OT's most powerful tool for reorienting the congregation's perspective: the final outcome has not yet been revealed, but it is determined — and YHWH holds it. Proverbs 14:12 warns that the way that looks right now may have a catastrophic acharith; conversely, the way that looks hard or costly may have the acharith of the man of shalom (Ps 37:37).
The congregation living under cultural, personal, or political pressure — where the wicked appear to prosper and the righteous appear to lose — needs the acharith frame: we are not at the end of the story. Jeremiah 29:11 is acharith-as-pastoral-promise: the people who most need to hear about the acharith are those in exile, those for whom the present looks like permanent loss.
The word 'future' in that promise is acharith — YHWH is saying, 'I have secured your end, even from here.' The eschatological acharith hayamim in Isaiah and Micah locates every congregation in the movement of history toward the mountain of YHWH's house — we are in the acharith, the latter-day period, moving toward the day when all nations stream to the mountain.
The preacher's job is to help the congregation see the acharith that God has secured, so that present suffering is proportioned against it rather than against the apparent prosperity of the unrighteous.
Jer.29.11
אַחֲרִית (acharith) is derived from the preposition/adverb achar (H310, after, behind, hind-part). The basic spatial meaning is 'what is behind' or 'the back end' — but in temporal use it becomes 'what comes after,' the latter end or final outcome. The phrase acharith hayamim (latter days, end of days) is the OT's most common eschatological marker: it appears in Gen 49:1, Num 24:14, Deut 4:30, 31:29, Isa 2:2, Mic 4:1, Jer 23:20, 30:24, 48:47, Ezek 38:16, Dan 10:14.
The wide distribution of this phrase across the Torah, Prophets, Writings, and Daniel shows that acharith hayamim is not a late addition to OT theology but a consistent thread. The Greek equivalent in the LXX is often eschatai hemerai (last days) — which the NT picks up directly in Acts 2:17 and Hebrews 1:2.
The NT inherits acharith hayamim directly as 'the last days' (eschatai hemerai or ep' eschatou ton hemeron). Hebrews 1:1-2 opens with it: 'Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days (ep' eschatou ton hemeron touton) he has spoken to us by his Son.' The acharith hayamim that Isaiah and Micah projected into the future has arrived in Christ.
Acts 2:17 quotes Joel 2:28-32 as acharith-fulfillment: 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit.' The eschatological acharith is now. Jeremiah 29:11 is extensively applied in NT pastoral contexts — not as a blanket prosperity promise but as the assurance that YHWH's plans (machashabot) for his people run through present exile toward secured acharith.
Romans 8:28 ('all things work together for good') is the NT's closest parallel: the acharith is secured, so the passage through the middle is sustained by that knowledge. Second Peter 3:3 warns of scoffers in the 'last days' — the acharith has come but not all recognize it, and the apparent delay of judgment is itself part of the acharith-plan (2 Pet 3:9 — the Lord is not slow concerning his promise).
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