Daniel 9:1-3

Daniel’s Prayer for His People

1 ¹In the first year of ²Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a ³Mede, who was made king over the realm of the ⁴Chaldeans—

2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to ⁵the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by ⁶prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Daniel 9:1-3 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.

Cross References

• 1. 9:1 ch. 11:1
• 2. 9:1 See ch. 5:31
• 3. 9:1 [ch. 8:20]
• 4. 9:1 ch. 5:30
• 5. 9:2 [Ezra 1:1; Jer. 25:12]
• 6. 9:3 ver. 17, 18, 23; [Neh. 1:4]