Daniel 9:18-27

18 ¹O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see ²our desolations, and ³the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.

19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. ⁴Delay not, ⁵for your own sake, O my God, because ⁶your city and ⁷your people are called by your name."

Gabriel Brings an Answer

20 ⁸While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the LORD my God for ⁹the holy hill of my God,

21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man ¹⁰Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, ¹¹came to me in swift flight at ¹²the time of the evening sacrifice.

22 ¹³He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, "O Daniel, I have now come out to give you ¹⁴insight and understanding.

23 ¹⁵At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, ¹⁶and I have come to tell it to you, for ¹⁷you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word ¹⁸and understand the vision.

The Seventy Weeks

24 ¹⁹"Seventy weeks^[a] are decreed about your people and ²⁰your holy city, to finish ²¹the transgression, to put an end to sin, ²²and to atone for iniquity, ²³to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and ²⁴to anoint a most holy place.^[b]

25 ²⁵Know therefore and understand that ²⁶from the going out of the word to restore and ²⁷build Jerusalem to the coming of an ²⁸anointed one, a ²⁹prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, ³⁰but in a troubled time.

26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall ³¹be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come ³²shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. ³³Its^[c] end shall come with a flood, ³⁴and to the end there shall be war. ³⁵Desolations are decreed.

27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week,^[d] and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. ³⁶And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until ³⁷the decreed end is poured out on the desolator."

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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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 37

1. 2 Kings 19:16; Isaiah 37:17
2. ver. 26; See ver. 27
3. Jeremiah 25:29
4. Psalms 40:17; Psalms 70:5
5. Psalms 25:11; Psalms 79:9
6. [See ver. 18 above]
7. Jeremiah 14:9
8. Isaiah 65:24
9. See ver. 16
10. See Daniel 8:16
11. See Daniel 8:18
12. Exodus 29:39; [1 Kings 18:36; Ezra 9:4, 5]
13. [Daniel 8:16]
14. [Daniel 1:4, 17]
15. [ver. 20]
16. [Daniel 10:12, 14]
17. Daniel 10:11, 19
18. [Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14]
19. [Ezekiel 4:6]
20. Nehemiah 11:1
21. Daniel 8:13
22. [Psalms 78:38; Hebrews 2:17]; See Jeremiah 31:34
23. Romans 3:25, 26; See Jeremiah 23:5, 6
24. [Psalms 45:7; Isaiah 61:1; Acts 4:26, 27]
25. [ver. 23]
26. [2 Chronicles 36:23; Ezra 1:3; Ezra 4:24; Ezra 6:15; Neh. Ezra 6:15]
27. [Psalms 51:18]
28. John 1:41
29. Isaiah 55:4
30. See Neh. 4:7, 8, 16-18
31. Isaiah 53:8; [Mark 9:12; Luke 24:26]
32. [Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 19:43, 44]
33. Nahum 1:8; [Daniel 11:10, 22, 26, 40]
34. Matthew 24:6, 14
35. ver. 18; See ver. 27
36. Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14; [Luke 21:20]
37. Isaiah 10:23

Footnotes 4

[a]. Or sevens; also twice in verse 25 and once in verse 26
[b]. Or thing, or one
[c]. Or His
[d]. Or seven; twice in this verse

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.