Daniel 9:20 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 9:20
And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
sin
וְחַטַּ֖אתve.cha.Tat
H2403
an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
people
עַמִּ֣י'a.Mi
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
presenting
וּמַפִּ֣ילu.ma.Pil
H5307
to fall · conjunction + verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
supplication
תְּחִנָּתִ֗יte.chi.na.Ti
H8467
graciousness · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
before
לִפְנֵי֙lif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD
יְהוָ֣הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
God
אֱלֹהַ֔י'e.lo.Hai
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
holy
קֹ֥דֶשׁKo.desh
H6944
a sacred place or thing · noun, common masculine singular construct
mountain
הַרhar-
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine singular construct
God
אֱלֹהָֽי'e.lo.Hai
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 145:18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
Daniel 9:3-4 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Isaiah 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the y…
Psalms 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgaves…
Isaiah 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine…
Isaiah 65:24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
Daniel 9:16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mo…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 9:20–end
We have here the answer that was immediately sent to Daniel's prayer, and it is a very memorable one, as it contains the most illustrious prediction of Christ and gospel-grace that is extant in all the Old Testament. If John Baptist was the morning-star, this was the day-break to the Sun of righteousness, the day-spring from on high. Here is,
I. The time when this answer was given.
1. It was while Daniel was at prayer. This he observed and laid a strong emphasis upon: While I was speaking (Dan 9:20), yea, while I was speaking in prayer (Dan 9:21), before he rose from his knees, and while there was yet more which he intended to say.
(1.) He mentions the two heads he chiefly insisted upon in p…
whiles I was speaking--repeated in Dan 9:21; emphatically marking that the answer was given before the prayer was completed, as God promised (Isa 30:19; Isa 65:24; compare Psa 32:5).
Adam Clarke on Daniel 9:19
Thy city and thy people are called by thy name - The holy city, the city of the great King. I think it scarcely possible for any serious man to read these impressive and pleading words without feeling a measure of the prophet's earnestness.
John Gill on Daniel 9:20
And while I was speaking and praying,.... Speaking to God in prayer; for it seems his prayer was vocal, and not mental only:
and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel; Daniel, though so holy and good a man, was not without sin, and thought it his duty to confess it before the Lord; and which he did in the first place, and then the sin of his people; which is the way to succeed with the Lord for the application of pardoning grace, and the enjoyment of other mercies and blessings:
and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; for the temple, and the service of God in it; which was the first and principal thing that lay upon the heart of t…
Verse 20. "Now while I was yet speaking and praying and confessing my sins and the sins of my people, Israel, so as to present (Vulg.: and was presenting) my petitions in the presence of my God on behalf of the holy mountain of my God..." And so, as we have pointed out above, he not only thought upon the sins of the people but also upon his own sins, as being one of the people. Or else it was by way of humility, although he had not personally committed sin; his purpose being to obtain pardon by reason of his humility. Observe what he said here: "I was confessing my sins." For there are many passages in Scripture where confession does not imply an expression of repentance so much as an expression of praise to God.
And so confessing from the face of the people, he describes these things, declaring the sins of the people and of their fathers, who did not obey his slaves the prophets, who were sent to them to speak in the name of the Lord. And when he was proclaiming every supplication in humility and fastings and sackcloth, the angel Gabriel was sent forth to him, in order to cause him to understand what was sought by him. For Daniel speaks in this way, "And while I was still speaking and praying and declaring my sins and the sins of my people, prostrating my pitiful case before the Lord my God concerning the holy Mountain, and while I was still speaking in prayer, behold, the man Gabriel, whom I saw in the vision in the beginning, came flying and he touched me around the evening sacrifice and he caused me to understand and spoke with me and said, 'Daniel, now I have come to teach you understanding. In the beginning of your supplication the word went out and I myself came to proclaim to you that you are cherished man.'" [Daniel 9:20-23]
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Daniel — God is my judge, or judge of God. (1.) David’s second son, “born unto him in Hebron, of Abigail the Carmelitess” (1 Chr. 3:1). He is called also Chileab (2 Sam. 3:3). (2.) One of the four great…
Confession Of Sin · God regards — God regards
Daily Sacrifice, The · Times of offering, were seasons of prayer — Times of offering, were seasons of prayer
Jerusalem · .HOLY MOUNTAIN — .HOLY MOUNTAIN
Nation · Prayer for — Prayer for
Prayer, Answers To · Exemplified: Daniel — Exemplified: Daniel
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Daniel 9:20-21
Daniel 9:20-21
20. And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
20. Et adhuc ego loquens, [105] et precarer, et confiterer peecatum meum, et peccatum populi mei Israel, et prosternerem, [106] precationem meam coram Jehova Deo meo, super montem [107] sanctuarii Dei me.
21. Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
21. Cum, inquam, loquerer in precatione mea, tunc vir Gabriel quem videram in visione principio vo…
The granting of the prayer. - While Daniel was yet engaged in prayer (הר ק על, on account of the holy mountain, i.e., for it, see under Dan 9:16), an answer was already communicated to him; for the angel Gabriel came to him, and brought to him an explanation of the seventy years of Jeremiah, i.e., not as to their expiry, but what would happen after their completion for the city and the people of God. האישׁ , the man Gabriel, refers, by the use of the definite article, back to Dan 8:15, where Gabriel appeared to him in the form of a man. This is expressly observed in the relative clause, "whom I saw," etc. Regarding בּתּחלּה (at the first, Dan 9:21) see under Dan 8:1. The differently interpre…
God’s immediate answer to Daniel’s prayer was to send his messenger Gabriel to explain Daniel’s vision. Gabriel’s explanation covered the near and distant future of Daniel’s people.
Rashi on Daniel 9:20
about the mount of the Sanctuary of my God for the mount of the House of God, that it be built.
