Daniel 9:15-25

15 "And now, Lord our God, who have brought your people out from [the] land of Egypt with a strong hand, and you [have] made for yourself a name [until] this day--we have sinned, we have acted wickedly.
16 Lord, according to all your righteousness, please let your anger and your rage turn away from your city Jerusalem, {your holy mountain}, because through our sins and through the iniquities of our ancestors Jerusalem and your people have become an object of mockery among all of our neighbors.
17 "And now, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy. Shine your face upon your desolate sanctuary {for your sake, O Lord}.
18 Incline your ear, my God, and listen; open your eyes and look at our desolation and the city that is called [by] your name, for we [are] not presenting our pleas for mercy {before you} because of our righteousness, but [rather] because of your great compassion.
19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, pay heed and act! You must not delay {for your sake}, my God; because {your city and your people are called by your name}."

Gabriel’s Announcement and Presentation of the Seventy Sets of Seven

20 Now I [was] still speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea {before} Yahweh my God, on behalf {of the holy mountain of my God}.
21 And I [was] still speaking in prayer, and the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision {previously}, {in my weariness touched me} at [the] time of [the] evening offering.
22 And he instructed [me] and he spoke with me and he said, "Daniel I have now come out to teach you understanding.
23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and [now] I have come to declare [it], for you [are] highly esteemed, and [so] consider the word and understand the vision.

The Seventy Sets of Seven Detailed

24 "Seventy weeks is decreed for your people and {for your holy city}, to put an end to the transgression and to seal [up] sin and to make atonement for guilt and to bring [in] everlasting righteousness and to seal vision and prophet and to anoint {the most holy place}.
25 And you must know and you must understand [that] from [the] time of the going out of [the] word to restore and build Jerusalem until [an] anointed [one]--[a] leader--[will be] {seven weeks and sixty-two weeks}; it will be restored and will be built [with] streets and [a] moat, but {in a time of oppression}.

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 20

  • [a]. Literally "the mountain of your holiness"
  • [b]. Or "fathers"
  • [c]. Or "let shine" or "cause to shine"
  • [d]. Literally "for the sake of the Lord"
  • [e]. Literally "to the face of you"
  • [f]. Literally "for the sake of you"
  • [g]. Literally "your name is called over your city and over your people"
  • [h]. Literally "to the face of"
  • [i]. Literally "the mountain of the holiness of my God"
  • [j]. Literally "in the beginning"
  • [k]. Literally "[my] being wearied, touching me"
  • [l]. Or "forth"
  • [m]. Or "deliver"
  • [n]. Literally "for [the] city of your holiness"
  • [o]. Or "to make an end to sin"
  • [p]. Literally "the holy place of holy places"
  • [q]. Or "so you are to know and discern" (NASB), or "know then and understand" (e.g. NEB)
  • [r]. Or "messiah"
  • [s]. Literally "weeks seven and weeks sixty and two"
  • [t]. Literally "in distress/oppression of the times/time"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.