Q. “G.” Does the testimony of the two witnesses commence with the last half-week; and, if so, when do the “three days and a-half” of Revelation 11:9-11 come in?
A. I judge that there is but one “half-week” counted (that is, directly indicated by numbers) in the Revelation, while in the symbolic part of the book there may be allusion to much that is antecedent to it. But the “Beast” has power for “forty-two months” — not for eighty four. During that “forty-two months” the witnesses prophesy, or, as it is written, “a thousand two hundred and threescore days,” during the raging of the Beast, who slays them in the end. This is, I judge, the last half-week. If you seek to put into the Apocalypse two half weeks in detail, you have the difficulty of placing the last half-week first in order, and the active before the passive testimony, and thus reversing the whole succession of events.
The “three days and a-half” affect both interpretations. By seeking to put in two (numerically designated) half-weeks in Revelation you must allow the three and a-half days to run into the second half-week. By allowing only one (numerically designated) half-week you have the same difficulty at the end. 21 These days may come in at the close of the last half-week, and may be embraced in their “testimony.”
Words of Truth 6:118-120.