Daniel 9:4-14

4 And I prayed my Lord God, and I acknowledged, and said, I beseech, thou Lord God, great and fearedful, keeping covenant and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments. (And I prayed to the Lord my God, and I acknowledged, and said, I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and fearful, keeping covenant and giving mercy to those who love thee, and who obey thy commandments.)

5 We have sinned, we have done wickedness, we did unfaithfully, and went away, and bowed away from thy commandments and dooms. (We have sinned, we have done wickedness, we did unfaithfully, and rebelled, and turned away from thy commandments and thy judgements/and thy laws.)

6 We obeyed not to thy servants, (the) prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. (We did not obey thy servants, the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, to our leaders, to our forefathers, and to all the people of the land.)

7 Lord, rightfulness is to thee, forsooth shame of face is to us, as (it) is today to a man of Judah, and to the dwellers of Jerusalem (and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem), and to all Israel, to these men that be nigh, and to these men that be afar in all lands, to which thou castedest them out for the wickednesses of them, in which, Lord, they sinned against thee.

8 Shame of face is to us, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, that sinned; (Shame is to us, to our kings, to our rulers, and to our forefathers, who sinned;)

9 but mercy and benignity is to thee, our Lord God (but mercy and generosity of spirit, or forgiveness, is to thee, O Lord our God). For we went away from thee,

10 and heard not the voice of our Lord God, that we should go in the law of him, which he setted to us by his servants, (the) prophets. (and did not listen to the voice of the Lord our God, that we should go in his Law, which he gave to us by his servants, the prophets.)

11 And all Israel brake thy law, and bowed away, (so) that they heard not thy voice; and (the) cursing and (the) loathing, which is written in the book of Moses, the servant of God, dropped on us, for we sinned to him (for we have sinned against him).

12 And he ordained his words, which he spake on us, and on our princes, that deemed us, that they should bring in on us great evil, what manner evil was never under all heaven, by that that is done in Jerusalem, (And he ordained his words, which he spoke against us, and against our rulers, who judged us, so that they would bring in upon us great evil, what manner evil was never under all heaven, by that which is done in Jerusalem,)

13 as it is written in the law of Moses. All this evil came [up]on us, and, our Lord God, we prayed not thy face, that we should turn again from our wickednesses, and should think (on) thy truth. (as it is written in the Law of Moses. All this evil came upon us, and, O Lord our God, we did not pray to thee, that we should turn back from our wickednesses, and should think upon thy truth.)

14 And the Lord waked on malice, and brought it on us; our Lord God is just in all his works which he made, for we heard not his voice. (And the Lord watched, and then brought in this malice upon us; for the Lord our God is just, and right, in all his works which he made, but we did not listen to him, or obey him.)

Daniel 9:4-14 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.