Daniel 9:18-27

18 Incline thine ear, O my God, and hear; open thine eyes and behold our desolations, and the city that is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee because of our righteousnesses, but because of thy manifold mercies.
19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, hearken and do! defer not, for thine own sake, O my God! for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
20 And whilst I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21 whilst I was yet speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he informed [me], and talked with me, and said, Daniel, I am now come forth to make thee skilful of understanding.
23 At the beginning of thy supplications the word went forth, and I am come to declare [it]; for thou art one greatly beloved. Therefore consider the word, and have understanding in the vision:
24 Seventy weeks are apportioned out upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to close the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make expiation for iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal the vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies.
25 Know therefore and understand: From the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah, the Prince, are seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street and the moat shall be built again, even in troublous times.
26 And after the sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with an overflow, and unto the end, war, -- the desolations determined.
27 And he shall confirm a covenant with the many [for] one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and because of the protection of abominations [there shall be] a desolator, even until that the consumption and what is determined shall be poured out upon the desolate.

Daniel 9:18-27 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 14

  • [a]. See 1Kings 8.48.
  • [b]. Lit. 'cause to fall,' so ver. 20: see Jer. 36.7, &c.
  • [c]. Mareh: see Note, ch. 8.16: so ch. 10.1,7,8,16.
  • [d]. Or 'to complete.'
  • [e]. Or 'to seal up.'
  • [f]. Or 'forgive,' see Ps. 78.38.
  • [g]. Or 'build up,' or 're-build.'
  • [h]. i.e. one anointed.
  • [i]. See 2Sam. 7.8; Isa. 55.4
  • [j]. Or 'the determined [portion] of desolations:' see the following verse, and Isa. 10.22,23.
  • [k]. Strictly, 'in the dividing of the week.'
  • [l]. Lit. 'wing:' see Isa. 8.8. It might be rendered: 'and the abominations (idols) of the desolator shall be on the pinnacle' (i.e. of the temple).
  • [m]. idols.
  • [n]. Others, 'the desolator.'
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.