Daniel 9:3

And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
set	וָאֶתְּנָ֣ה va.'e.te.Nah	H5414	to give · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular + paragogic he
face	פָּנַ֗י pa.Nai	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
Lord	אֲדֹנָי֙ 'a.do.Nai	H136	the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
God	הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים ha.'E.lo.Him	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
seek	לְבַקֵּ֥שׁ le.va.Kesh	H1245	to search out (by any method · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
prayer	תְּפִלָּ֖ה te.fi.Lah	H8605	intercession · noun, common feminine singular absolute
supplications	וְתַחֲנוּנִ֑ים ve.ta.cha.nu.Nim	H8469	earnest prayer · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
fasting	בְּצ֖וֹם be.Tzom	H6685	a fast · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sackcloth	וְשַׂ֥ק ve.Sak	H8242	properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
ashes	וָאֵֽפֶר va.'E.fer	H665	ashes · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute

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

Jeremiah 29:10-13 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causi…
Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
James 5:16-18 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availet…
Nehemiah 1:4-11 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of…
Esther 4:16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also…
Ezra 8:21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, an…
Ezra 9:5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my…
Ezra 10:6 Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did e…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 9:1-3

We left Daniel, in the close of the foregoing chapter, employed in the king's business; but here we have him employed in better business than any king had for him, speaking to God and hearing from him, not for himself only, but for the church, whose mouth he was to God, and for whose use the oracles of God were committed to him, relating to the days of the Messiah. Observe, 1. When it was that Daniel had this communion with God (Dan 9:1), in the first year of Darius the Mede, who was newly made king of the Chaldeans, Babylon being conquered by him and his nephew, or grandson, Cyrus. In this year the seventy years of the Jews' captivity ended, but the decree for their release was not yet issu…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 9:3

prayer . . . supplications--literally, "intercessions . . . entreaties for mercy." Praying for blessings, and deprecating evils.

Adam Clarke on Daniel 9:3

I set my face - to seek by prayer - He found that the time of the promised deliverance could not be at any great distance; and as he saw nothing that indicated a speedy termination of their oppressive captivity, he was very much afflicted, and earnestly besought God to put a speedy end to it; and how earnestly he seeks, his own words show. He prayed, he supplicated, he fasted, he put sackcloth upon his body, and he put ashes upon his head. He uses that kind of prayer prescribed by Solomon in his prayer at the dedication of the temple. See Kg1 8:47, Kg1 8:48.

John Gill on Daniel 9:3

And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications,.... He set apart some time on purpose for this service, distinct from his usual stated times of prayer, as well as from his civil business and employment; and he not only set his face toward Jerusalem, as he used to do, Daniel 6:10, the more to affect his mind with the desolations the city and temple lay in; but towards the Lord God, the sovereign Lord of all, who does according to his will in heaven and in earth, the Governor of the universe, the one true God, Father, Son, and Spirit: and this denotes the intenseness of his spirit in prayer; the fixedness of his heart; the ardour of his mind; the fervency of his soul;…

The Church Fathers

Nor is it merely a change of nature, or aversion of perils or obliteration of sins but likewise the recognition of mysteries that fasts will merit from God. Look at Daniel's example.… In the first year of King Darius, when, after careful and repeated meditation on the times predicted by Jeremiah, he set his face to God in fasts and sackcloth and ashes. An angel was sent to him and immediately stated this had been the cause of the divine honor; he said, "I came to show you, wretched as you are," namely, because he had been fasting.
— Tertullian, ON FASTING 7

What will you say, Daniel? You are among the good; you enjoy honor before God and people; why do you concern yourself with the others? But Moses also acted the same way. And what does he say? "He asked for the things that were due with fasting, sackcloth and ashes." Why did he do that, if what he was asking was due the Israelites? He did it so that he might not make them unworthy of this. For there is no compulsion that can be applied to God; he is above all laws. He did this "to seek in prayer and petition."
— John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 9

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

Confession — (1) An open profession of faith (Luke 12:8). (2.) An acknowledment of sins to God (Lev. 16:21; Ezra 9:5-15; Dan. 9:3-12), and to a neighbour whom we have wronged (James 5:16; Matt. 18:15).
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…
Ashes · Repenting in — Repenting in
Fasting · Accompanied by prayer — Accompanied by prayer
Judgments · Saints: Pray for those under — Saints: Pray for those under
Nation · Chastised — Chastised
Prayer · Accompanied with: Fasting — Accompanied with: Fasting
Prayer, Intercessory · Exemplified: Daniel — Exemplified: Daniel
Prayer, Private · Exemplified: Daniel — Exemplified: Daniel
Sackcloth · A symbol of mourning — A symbol of mourning
Seekers · 5:8;8:5,6; — 5:8;8:5,6;
Seeking God · By prayer — By prayer

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).

Daniel 9:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 9:1-3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 9:3

Adam Clarke on Daniel 9:3

John Gill on Daniel 9:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Daniel 9:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 9:1-3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 9:3

Adam Clarke on Daniel 9:3

John Gill on Daniel 9:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Daniel 9:1-3

Keil & Delitzsch on Daniel 9:3-19

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Daniel 9:3

Rashi on Daniel 9:2