Daniel 9:16-26

16 "O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your 1anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your 2holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a 3reproach to all those around us.
17 "So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, 4let Your face shine on Your 5desolate sanctuary.
18 "O my God, 6incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and 7see our desolations and the city which is 8called by Your name; for we are not 9presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.
19 "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, 10do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name."

Gabriel Brings an Answer

20 Now while I was 11speaking and praying, and 12confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,
21 while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man 13Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the 14evening offering.
22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with 15understanding.
23 "At the 16beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are 17highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain 18understanding of the vision.

Seventy Weeks and the Messiah

24 "Seventy 19weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to 20make atonement for iniquity, to bring in 21everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.
25 "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a 22decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until 23Messiah the 24Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two * weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
26 "Then after the sixty-two * weeks the Messiah will be 25cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will 26destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a 27flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

Daniel 9:16-26 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 27

  • 1. Jeremiah 32:31, 32
  • 2. Psalms 87:1-3; Daniel 9:20; Joel 3:17; Zechariah 8:3
  • 3. Ezekiel 5:14
  • 4. Numbers 6:24-26; Ps 80:3, 7, 19
  • 5. Lamentations 5:18
  • 6. Isaiah 37:17
  • 7. Psalms 80:14
  • 8. Jeremiah 7:10-12
  • 9. Jeremiah 36:7
  • 10. Psalms 44:23; Psalms 74:10, 11
  • 11. Psalms 145:18; Isaiah 58:9; Daniel 9:3; Daniel 10:12
  • 12. Isaiah 6:5
  • 13. Daniel 8:16; Luke 1:19, 26
  • 14. Exodus 29:39; 1 Kings 18:36; Ezra 9:4
  • 15. Daniel 8:16; Daniel 10:21; Zechariah 1:9
  • 16. Daniel 10:12
  • 17. Daniel 10:11, 19
  • 18. Matthew 24:15
  • 19. Leviticus 25:8; Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:5, 6
  • 20. 2 Chronicles 29:24; Isaiah 53:10; Romans 5:10
  • 21. Isaiah 51:6, 8; Isaiah 56:1; Jeremiah 23:5, 6; Romans 3:21, 22
  • 22. Ezra 4:24; Ezra 6:1-15; Nehemiah 2:1-8; Nehemiah 3:1
  • 23. John 1:41; John 4:25
  • 24. Isaiah 9:6; Daniel 8:11, 25
  • 25. Isaiah 53:8; Mark 9:12; Luke 24:26
  • 26. Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 19:43, 44
  • 27. Nahum 1:8

Footnotes 21

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