Daniel 9:19

19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, pay heed and act! You must not delay {for your sake}, my God; because {your city and your people are called by your name}."

Daniel 9:19 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 9:19

O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive
That is, hear the prayers and supplications that have been presented, and forgive the sins that have been confessed; show both, by removing present calamities, and restoring to former prosperity and privileges: O Lord, hearken, and do;
not only listen to what has been said, and give an answer by speaking, but work salvation and deliverance: defer not, for thine own sake, O my God;
these words seem to be directed to Christ the Son of God, and who is the true God, and the God of his people; who is three times in this verse before called Adonai, for whose sake prayer and supplication were made, ( Daniel 9:17 ) and here again, for his own sake, he is entreated not to "defer" the fulfilment of the promise of delivering the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, the seventy years being now up, or just expiring; and also that he would not defer his own coming for the redemption of his people, which no doubt Daniel had in his mind, and was wishing and waiting for: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name;
Jerusalem, the city of the great King, Christ, and a type of his church and people, who are also called by his name, and call upon him.

Daniel 9:19 In-Context

17 "And now, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy. Shine your face upon your desolate sanctuary {for your sake, O Lord}.

18 Incline your ear, my God, and listen; open your eyes and look at our desolation and the city that is called [by] your name, for we [are] not presenting our pleas for mercy {before you} because of our righteousness, but [rather] because of your great compassion.

19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, pay heed and act! You must not delay {for your sake}, my God; because {your city and your people are called by your name}."

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "for the sake of you"
• [b]. Literally "your name is called over your city and over your people"