Daniel's Prayer for His People

Daniel 9

1 b In the first year of c Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a d Mede, who was made king over the realm of the e Chaldeans - 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to f the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by g prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and h made confession, saying, i "O Lord, the i great and awesome God, who j keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 k we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly l and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. 6 m We have not listened to n your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to o our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 To you, p O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, q those who are near and q those who are far away, in r all the lands to which you have driven them, because of s the treachery that they have committed against you. 8 To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because k we have sinned against you. 9 t To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him 10 m and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by n his servants the prophets. 11 u All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, v refusing to obey your voice. w And the curse and oath x that are written in the Law of y Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because k we have sinned against him. 12 He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against z our rulers who ruled us, 1 by a bringing upon us a great calamity. b For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. 13 x As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, c turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. 14 d Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, e for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and f we have not obeyed his voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt g with a mighty hand, and h have made a name for yourself, as at this day, i we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

16 "O Lord, j according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, k your holy hill, l because for our sins, and for m the iniquities of our fathers, n Jerusalem and your people have become o a byword among all who are around us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, 2 p make your face to shine upon q your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 r O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see s our desolations, and t the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. u Delay not, v for your own sake, O my God, because t your city and w your people are called by your name."

  1. Cross References
    Daniel 11:1
    And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.
  2. Cross References
    Daniel 5:31
    And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
  3. Cross References
    Daniel 8:20
    As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia.
  4. Cross References
    Daniel 5:30
    That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.
  5. Cross References
    Ezra 1:1
    In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
    Jeremiah 25:12
    Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.
  6. Cross References
    Daniel 9:17 - 18
    Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.
    Daniel 9:23
    At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
    Nehemiah 1:4
    As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
  7. Cross References
    Daniel 9:20
    While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God.
    Ezra 10:1
    While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.
    Nehemiah 1:6
    Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned.
  8. Cross References
    Nehemiah 1:5
    And I said, "O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.
    Nehemiah 9:32
    Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day.
  9. Cross References
    Nehemiah 1:5
    And I said, "O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.
    Nehemiah 9:32
    Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day.
  10. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:9
    Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.
  11. Cross References
    Daniel 9:15
    And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
  12. Cross References
    Lamentations 3:42
    We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
  13. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 36:15 - 16
    The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.
  14. Cross References
    Ezra 9:11
    Which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness.
    Zechariah 1:6
    But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.
  15. Cross References
    Ezra 9:7
    From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
    Nehemiah 9:34
    Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them.
  16. Cross References
    Daniel 9:14
    Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.
    Lamentations 1:18
    The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering; my young women and my young men have gone into captivity.
  17. Cross References
    Esther 9:20
    And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far.
  18. Cross References
    Esther 9:20
    And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far.
  19. Cross References
    Jeremiah 8:3
    Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.
  20. Cross References
    Leviticus 26:40
    But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me.
  21. Cross References
    Daniel 9:5
    We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.
  22. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:17
    They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.
    Psalms 86:15
    But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
  23. Cross References
    Daniel 9:6
    We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
  24. Cross References
    Daniel 9:6
    We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
  25. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:4 - 6
    Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.
  26. Cross References
    Jeremiah 40:3
    The Lord has brought it about, and has done as he said. Because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you.
    Jeremiah 44:23
    It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey the voice of the Lord or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.
  27. Cross References
    Jeremiah 44:22
    The Lord could no longer bear your evil deeds and the abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.
  28. Cross References
    Leviticus 26:14 - 45
    But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments.
    Deuteronomy 28:15 - 68
    But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
  29. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 6:49
    But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense for all the work of the Most Holy Place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.
    2 Chronicles 24:9
    And proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness.
    Nehemiah 10:29
    Join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.
  30. Cross References
    Daniel 9:5
    We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.
  31. Cross References
    Psalms 82:2 - 3
    How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
  32. Cross References
    Jeremiah 39:16
    Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day.
  33. Cross References
    Ezekiel 5:9
    And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again.
    Lamentations 1:12
    Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.
  34. Cross References
    Daniel 9:11
    All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.
  35. Cross References
    Hosea 7:10
    The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him, for all this.
  36. Cross References
    Jeremiah 1:12
    Then the Lord said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.
  37. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:33
    Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.
    Daniel 9:7
    To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.
  38. Cross References
    Daniel 9:10
    And have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
  39. Cross References
    Exodus 32:11
    But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
    Exodus 6:1
    But the Lord said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.
    Nehemiah 1:10
    They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.
  40. Cross References
    Exodus 14:18
    And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.
    Nehemiah 9:10
    And performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day.
  41. Cross References
    Daniel 9:5
    We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.
  42. Cross References
    Psalms 31:1
    In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me!
    Psalms 71:2
    In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me!
  43. Cross References
    Daniel 9:20
    While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God.
    Daniel 11:45
    And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.
    Jeremiah 31:23
    Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: "'The Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!
    Zechariah 8:3
    Thus says the Lord : I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain.
  44. Cross References
    Lamentations 1:5
    Her foes have become the head; her enemies prosper, because the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe.
  45. Cross References
    Exodus 20:5
    You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.
  46. Cross References
    Lamentations 2:15 - 16
    All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?
  47. Cross References
    Psalms 44:13
    You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us.
    Psalms 79:4
    We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.
    Ezekiel 36:4
    Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God : Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted cities, which have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations all around.
    Micah 6:16
    For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.
  48. Cross References
    Numbers 6:25
    The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
  49. Cross References
    Lamentations 5:18
    For Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it.
  50. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:16
    Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
    Isaiah 37:17
    Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
  51. Cross References
    Daniel 9:26
    And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
    Daniel 9:27
    And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.
  52. Cross References
    Jeremiah 25:29
    For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.
  53. Cross References
    Psalms 40:17
    As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!
    Psalms 70:5
    But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!
  54. Cross References
    Psalms 25:11
    For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
    Psalms 79:9
    Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name's sake!
  55. Cross References
    Daniel 9:18
    O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.
  56. Cross References
    Jeremiah 14:9
    Why should you be like a man confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot save? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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