Daniel 9:20-23

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.

Daniel 9:20-23 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

• [a]. Literally "to the face of"
• [b]. Literally "the mountain of the holiness of my God"
• [c]. Literally "in the beginning"
• [d]. Literally "[my] being wearied, touching me"
• [e]. Or "forth"
• [f]. Or "deliver"