Daniel 9:15-25

15 Now, Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made Your name [renowned] as it is this day, we have sinned, we have acted wickedly.
16 Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, may Your anger and wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the injustices of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become an object of ridicule to all those around us.
17 Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of Your servant. Show Your favor[a] to Your desolate sanctuary for the Lord's sake.
18 Listen,[b] my God, and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city called by Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You based on our righteous acts, but based on Your abundant compassion.
19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for Your own sake, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.

The 70 Weeks of Years

20 While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before Yahweh my God concerning the holy mountain of my God-
21 while I was praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the first vision,[c] came to me in my extreme weariness, about the time of the evening offering.
22 He gave me this explanation: "Daniel, I've come now to give you understanding.
23 At the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and I have come to give it, for you are treasured [by God]. So consider the message and understand the vision:
24 Seventy weeks[d] are decreed about your people and your holy city- to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to wipe away injustice, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.
25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince[e] will be seven weeks and 62 weeks.[f] It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times.

Daniel 9:15-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 9

This chapter contains a prayer of Daniel, and the answer to it. The time, occasion, and manner of his prayer, or circumstances of it, are observed, Da 9:1-3, the parts of it, an address unto God, under various suitable epithets and characters, Da 9:4 confession of sin, of his own, of the inhabitants of the land, kings, princes, and people, which are largely dwelt upon and exaggerated, Da 9:5-15 and petitions for mercy, Da 9:16-19, then the answer follows; the time when it was ordered and given, and the person by whom it was sent, are expressed, Da 9:20-23 who delivered to him the vision of the seventy weeks to be considered by him; in which both the work of the Messiah, and the time of his coming, are clearly pointed out, Da 9:24-27.

Footnotes 6

  • [a]. Nm 6:25; Ps 31:17; 67:2
  • [b]. Lit Stretch out Your ear
  • [c]. Dn 8:1,15
  • [d]. 490 years; 2 Ch 36:21; Jr 25:11-12; 29:10
  • [e]. Or until an anointed one, a prince
  • [f]. 49 years and 434 years
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