“Then I heard
A holy one speaking.
Another holy one
Said to the one
That spoke.
‘For how long
Is this vision
Concerning
The regular burnt offering
Continue?
This transgression
Makes desolate
The sanctuary.
How long will
The sanctuary
With the host
Be trampled?’
He answered.
‘For two thousand three hundred
Evenings and mornings.
Then the sanctuary
Shall be restored
To its rightful state.’”
Here Daniel has a conversation between 2 holy ones, probably a reference to angels. One holy one or angel wanted to know how long the lack of the regular burnt offerings at the sanctuary would continue. The transgression of the sanctuary meant that the it and the people who worked there, the hosts, the priests, were trampled under. The response of the other angel was an exact time, 2,300 evenings and mornings, that turns out to be 1,150 days or about 3 ½ years. It was about 3 years that the sanctuary was defiled until 164 BCE.