Two versions of “Daniel 12:8 (third)” offer slightly different takes on how to view a moment you’re afraid is full of importance.

Track: “Daniel 12:8 (third)”
Album: The Life of the World in Flux (2009)

The Book of Daniel is all about what might happen. Daniel interprets God’s messages and hears from angels. He performs superhuman feats to prove his divine access and lays down with lions and survives flames sent to destroy him. It’s really easy to understand, as stories like these go, and it’s hard to argue with the idea that he knows what he needs to know. The kings of his day come to be impressed and come to listen to him, but only after he can prove it.

There are many ways to take these lessons and there’s an argument about faith that comes from Daniel’s doubters only believing him after seeing irrefutable proof. Daniel 12:8, the verse “Daniel 12:8 (third)” takes a title from, finds Daniel questioning an angel. Even after interpreting dreams for kings and hearing other divine messages, Daniel is only human and needs help understanding the angelic message. He asks “what will the outcome of all this be?”

This song didn’t make it to The Life of the World to Come. It’s only on the demo album The Life of the World in Flux. Further complicating this, we have the “third” version on the demo and the “first” version John Darnielle released separately. The versions differ only in their ending, with the first version offering a hopeful ending and the third version decidedly less so. There are multiple interpretations you can draw from each version, but this song stems from a time when John Darnielle was thinking about his health and about his life to that point. Through that lens, Daniel’s confusion and fear may be about a turning point where things will either get better or they won’t.