Some passages give a span of time, a relative deadline or a condition. Explore those expressions here, with the words and context that define them.
General Judaism · Duration
Forty-two generations of thirty years: forty-two months, 1260 days, a time and times and half a time
Iste quadragintadue generationes tricenarij sunt annorum
Joachim counts forty-two generations of thirty years each from Christ to the time of “this tyrant” and equates them with the forty-two months, the 1260 days and “a time and times and half a time”. He counts 105 generations from Adam to the year 1200 of the incarnation and calls the last two uncertain in time.
Liber concordie novi ac veteris Testamenti · Joachim of Fiore, Liber concordie novi ac veteris Testamenti (Venice, 1519), book V, chapter 118, fol. 134r; English translation by Rainbow Watch (2026)
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General Latter-day Saint · Relative deadline
Till I come
shall not be taken from him till I come
The keys given to Joseph Smith are not to be taken from him before Christ’s coming. The limit is relative.
Doctrine and Covenants 112
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General Latter-day Saint · Relative deadline
In this generation
these grievous judgments would come on the earth in this generation
Joseph Smith reports that the messenger foretold famine, sword and pestilence “in this generation.”
Joseph Smith—History
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General Latter-day Saint · Duration
Five years
for the space of five years
A stated duration for Kirtland’s protection.
Revelation, 11 September 1831 [D&C 64]
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General Christianity · Maximum interval
No more than two hundred years remain
all expectation does not exceed the limit of two hundred years
Lactantius says that chronographers differ on the years since creation, but none leaves more than two hundred years before the six thousand are complete. The interval runs from his own time of writing.
Divine Institutes · Lactantius, The Divine Institutes VII.25, complete chapter; William Fletcher translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers VII (1886), p. 220. The preceding chapter describes the thousand-year reign of the saints.
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General Christianity · Condition
The end is not to be feared while the city of Rome remains
while the city of Rome remains it appears that nothing of this kind is to be feared
Lactantius makes the fall of Rome a precondition for the end.
Divine Institutes · Lactantius, The Divine Institutes VII.25, complete chapter; William Fletcher translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers VII (1886), p. 220. The preceding chapter describes the thousand-year reign of the saints.
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General Christianity · Relative deadline
Within forty years or so of 14 May 1948
within forty years or so of 1948, all these things could take place
Lindsey reads the fig tree as Israel, which became a nation on 14 May 1948, and takes a biblical generation as “something like forty years.” He says the events “could” take place within that span.
The Late Great Planet Earth · Hal Lindsey with C. C. Carlson, The Late Great Planet Earth (Zondervan, © 1970; eighty-first printing, 1980), chapter “Israel, O Israel,” pp. 53–54; short excerpt of three paragraphs.
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Islam — Mughal India · Relative deadline
Immediately after the completion of 7,000 years
as that time was now over the promised appearance of the Mahdí would immediately take place
A pamphlet by Sharífs of Mecca, as Badauni reports it, held that the earth would exist for 7,000 years and that, this time being over, the Mahdi would appear immediately.
Muntakhab-ut-Tawáríkh, volume II
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Buddhist — Tibetan · Duration
Twelve years later, fifteenth day of the second spring month
Twelve years from now, on the fifteenth day of the second month of spring
Relative to the Buddha’s speech in this narrative.
Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy
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Christian — Southcottian · Condition
Marriage must precede the opening of heaven and disclosure of the mysteries
thou must go through the office of Marriage, as a Bride, to fulfil all righteousness here upon earth, before the heavens are opened
The communication makes Southcott’s marriage a prerequisite to further revelation.
The Sixth Book of Wonders
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General Latter-day Saint · Minimum interval
Not for many years
the time has not yet come, for many years, for them to receive their inheritance in this land
Speaking of the elders not appointed to stay in Missouri, the revelation says the time for them to receive an inheritance there has not come “for many years,” unless they seek it through the prayer of faith. No number of years or starting date for a count is given.
Doctrine and Covenants 58
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General Judaism · Duration
1,290 years from the destruction of the Second Temple
years: one thousand two hundred and ninety, for then the Messiah son of Ephraim
Nahmanides counts Daniel’s 1,290 days as years from the day the Second Temple was destroyed; at their end the Messiah son of Ephraim is revealed. He calls his words about the end “perhaps” and “possibly”.
Sefer ha-Geulah · Moses ben Naḥman (Nahmanides), Sefer ha-Geulah, fourth gate (ed. Lipschütz, London, 1909, pp. 30–31); new English translation by Rainbow Watch (2026).
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