3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications , with fasting , sackcloth and ashes .
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said , "Alas , O Lord , the great and awesome God , who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments , 5 we have sinned , committed iniquity , acted wickedly and rebelled , even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances . 6 "Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets , who spoke in Your name to our kings , our princes , our fathers and all the people of the land . 7 " Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord , but to us open shame , as it is this day -to the men of Judah , the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel , those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. 8 "Open shame belongs to us, O Lord , to our kings , our princes and our fathers , because we have sinned against You. 9 "To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness , for we have rebelled against Him; 10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God , to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets . 11 "Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside , not obeying Your voice ; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God , for we have sinned against Him. 12 "Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity ; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem . 13 "As it is written in the law of Moses , all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor e of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth . 14 "Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done , but we have not obeyed His voice . 15 "And now , O Lord our God , who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day -we have sinned , we have been wicked . 16 "O Lord , in accordance with all Your righteous acts , let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem , Your holy mountain ; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers , Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach 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 , let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary . 18 "O my God , incline Your ear and hear ! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name ; for we are not presenting 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 , do not delay , because Your city and Your people are called by Your name ."
20 Now while 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 in behalf of the holy mountain of my God ,
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Daniel 9:3-20
Commentary on Daniel 9:1-3
(Read Daniel 9:1-3)
Daniel learned from the books of the prophets, especially from Jeremiah, that the desolation of Jerusalem would continue seventy years, which were drawing to a close. God's promises are to encourage our prayers, not to make them needless; and when we see the performance of them approaching, we should more earnestly plead them with God.
Commentary on Daniel 9:4-19
(Read Daniel 9:4-19)
In every prayer we must make confession, not only of the sins we have been guilty of, but of our faith in God, and dependence upon him, our sorrow for sin, and our resolutions against it. It must be our confession, the language of our convictions. Here is Daniel's humble, serious, devout address to God; in which he gives glory to him as a God to be feared, and as a God to be trusted. We should, in prayer, look both at God's greatness and his goodness, his majesty and mercy. Here is a penitent confession of sin, the cause of the troubles the people for so many years groaned under. All who would find mercy must thus confess their sins. Here is a self-abasing acknowledgment of the righteousness of God; and it is evermore the way of true penitents thus to justify God. Afflictions are sent to bring men to turn from their sins, and to understand God's truth. Here is a believing appeal to the mercy of God. It is a comfort that God has been always ready to pardon sin. It is encouraging to recollect that mercies belong to God, as it is convincing and humbling to recollect that righteousness belongs to him. There are abundant mercies in God, not only forgiveness, but forgivenesses. Here are pleaded the reproach God's people was under, and the ruins God's sanctuary was in. Sin is a reproach to any people, especially to God's people. The desolations of the sanctuary are grief to all the saints. Here is an earnest request to God to restore the poor captive Jews to their former enjoyments. O Lord, hearken and do. Not hearken and speak only, but hearken and do; do that for us which none else can do; and defer not. Here are several pleas and arguments to enforce the petitions. Do it for the Lord Christ's sake; Christ is the Lord of all. And for his sake God causes his face to shine upon sinners when they repent, and turn to him. In all our prayers this must be our plea, we must make mention of his righteousness, even of his only. The humble, fervent, believing earnestness of this prayer should ever be followed by us.
Commentary on Daniel 9:20-27
(Read Daniel 9:20-27)
An answer was immediately sent to Daniel's prayer, and it is a very memorable one. We cannot now expect that God should send answers to our prayers by angels, but if we pray with fervency for that which God has promised, we may by faith take the promise as an immediate answer to the prayer; for He is faithful that has promised. Daniel had a far greater and more glorious redemption discovered to him, which God would work out for his church in the latter days. Those who would be acquainted with Christ and his grace, must be much in prayer. The evening offering was a type of the great sacrifice Christ was to offer in the evening of the world: in virtue of that sacrifice Daniel's prayer was accepted; and for the sake of that, this glorious discovery of redeeming love was made to him. We have, in verses 24-27, one of the most remarkable prophecies of Christ, of his coming and his salvation. It shows that the Jews are guilty of most obstinate unbelief, in expecting another Messiah, so long after the time expressly fixed for his coming. The seventy weeks mean a day for a year, or 490 years. About the end of this period a sacrifice would be offered, making full atonement for sin, and bringing in everlasting righteousness for the complete justification of every believer. Then the Jews, in the crucifixion of Jesus, would commit that crime by which the measure of their guilt would be filled up, and troubles would come upon their nation. All blessings bestowed on sinful man come through Christ's atoning sacrifice, who suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Here is our way of access to the throne of grace, and of our entrance to heaven. This seals the sum of prophecy, and confirms the covenant with many; and while we rejoice in the blessings of salvation, we should remember what they cost the Redeemer. How can those escape who neglect so great salvation!