Dan 9.1-27 contains Daniel’s confession and prayer concerning the redemption. He is given a vision of the seventy weeks to be understood by him that relates to the work of the Messiah and the time of his coming after studying the prophecies of Jeremiah.
v 1…In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus (also called Astyages and king of the Medes and is called Ahasuerus; not the husband of Esther) of Median descent (not Persian), who was made king (by Cyrus) over the kingdom of the Chaldeans (Dan 5.31).
v 2…In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books (the Scriptures he studied; he studied them diligently and sought an answer to the seventy weeks of the exile that was prophesied) the number of years which was the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolation of Jerusalem, seventy years (he prays about this based on Lev 26.14 and Deut 28.15).
v 3…So I gave my attention (face) to the Lord God (Adonai Elohim) to seek (him by) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes (as a sign of humility and sorrow).
v 4…And I prayed (this is a good model prayer for us) to the Lord (Yehovah) my God (Elohai) and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord (Adonai), the great and awesome God (El), who keeps his covenant and lovingkindness for those who love him and keep (guard) his commandments,
v 5…we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from the commandments and ordinances (they were unrepentant and God increased their punishment sevenfold, increasing it from seventy years to four hundred and ninety as we shall see -see Lev 26.18, 21, 24, 28; this prayer is modeled after Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8.47-48).
v 6…Moreover, we have not listened to thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.
v 7…Righteousness belongs to thee, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is to 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 thous hast driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against thee.
v 8…Open shame belongs to us (repeated again to show that Daniel was affected by this, as were others), O Lord, to our kings, our princes (the royal family was shamed in Babylon), and our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
v 9…To the Lord our God (Adonai Eloheynu) belongs compassions (mercies) and forgivenesses (both plural) for we have rebelled against him;
v 10…nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God (Yehovah Eloheynu), to walk in his teachings (Torah) which he set before us through his servants the prophets (true prophets will teach the Torah, a major distinction to the so-called “prophets” of today).
v 11…Indeed all Israel has transgressed thy law (torahteycha) and turned aside (to deviate from the standard, an anomaly; Replacement Theology today is an anomaly. The word for “law” used in the New Testament is “nomos.” The word for “lawless” is “anomos” where we get the word “lawless” and “anomaly” is based on that concept), not obeying thy voice; so the curse (of Deut 28.15-66 and Lev 26.19-46) 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.
v 12…Thus he has confirmed his words which he had spoken against us and against our rulers (“shophteynu” or judges) who ruled (judged) us, to bring on us great calamity (“ra’ah” or evil); for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem (the severity of it all was unparalleled).
v 13…As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity (“ra’ah” or evil) has come upon us (Deut 11.26-28; 27.1 through 28.68; Lev 26.14), yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to thy truth (the Torah).
v 14…Therefore, the Lord (Yehovah) has watched (looked) on the evil, and he has made it come on us. For the Lord (Yehovah) our God is righteous with respect to all his deeds which he has done (clearing him from any accusations of being unfair or unjust), but we have not obeyed his voice (so it was God’s justice).
v 15…And now, O Lord our God, who hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and hast made a name for thyself, as it is this day (people still talked about what happened in Egypt)-we have sinned, we have been wicked.
v 16…O Lord (Adonai), in accordance with all thy righteous acts (in fulfillment of what you said you would do), let now thine anger and thy wrath turn away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain (the Temple site); for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people have become a reproach to all those around us (the unbelieving pagans looked at them with scorn and disgust).
v 17…So now, our God (eloheynu), listen (shema) to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplications, and for thy sake (his glory), O Lord, let thy face shine on thy desolate sanctuary (which was in ruins; and this is an allusion to the people among whom he dwelled).
v 18…O my God, incline thine ear and hear (the following petition)! Open thine eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by thy name (Jerusalem and the Temple-Psa 48.1); for we are (Daniel on behalf of the people) not presenting our supplications before thee on account of any merits of our own, but on account of thy great compassion.
v 19…O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For thine own sake (his glory in all of this), O my God, do not delay (the fulfillment of the promise to end their captivity in Babylon, the seventy years being finished or close to it according to the prophecies of Jeremiah), because thy city and thy people are called by thy name.”
v 20…Now while I was speaking and praying (vocal), and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplications before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain (har kodesh-city and Temple) of my God,
v 21…while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man (in the form of) Gabriel whom I had seen previously (8.15-16), was lifted in flight approaching me (to clarify things) about the time of the evening offering (the time of the Tamid lamb, about 3 pm, the time of prayer),
v 22…and he made me understand and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have come to give you skill in understanding (a correct insight into the future).
v 23….At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.
v 24…Seventy weeks (70 shemittah cycles) have been decreed on your people (concerning them) and your holy city (failing to repent, Israel would now fall into a 490-year curse based on Lev 26.18-28), to finish the transgression (of Israel, seal up for judgment), to make an end to sin (as to guilt and punishment with a believer), to make atonement (reconciliation, to restore a covering) for iniquity (by the blood of Yeshua), to bring in everlasting righteousness (through faith in Yeshua; it will never wear out but continue to be perfect for believers of all ages), to seal up vision and prophecy (to fulfill it, give it meaning), and to anoint the most holy (the Kodesh Ha Kodeshim of Zerubbabel’s Temple, the second Temple).
v 25…So you are to know and discern (take notice, observe, behold) that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Neh 2.1) until Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks (or 483 years and this equates to 173,880 days after Neh 2.1 and Yeshua entered the city and the Temple on Nisan 10 in what is called the triumphant entry, and declared himself the Messiah, and four days later he was slain as the Passover lamb) it will be built again (the city and the Temple), with a plaza and moat, even in times of distress (under the rule of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans).
v 26…Then after the sixty-two weeks (the 483 years are over) the Messiah will be cut off (killed, removed from the land of the living) but not for himself (he was cut off for the transgressions of the people in a judicial way, not for his own sin, but the sins of many-Isa 53.8); and the people of the prince who is to come (Vespasian and Titus and the Romans; the prince is the False Messiah who will come out of Europe and a Revived Roman Empire) will destroy the city and the sanctuary (Temple), and its end will come with a flood (the Roman army), even to the end of the war, desolations are determined (from the beginning of this war to the end there will be nothing but desolation).
v 27…And he (the prince; the False Messiah) will make a firm covenant (a military treaty) with the many (Israel) for one week (the sixty-nine weeks being concluded, the remaining seven years are now discussed; this is the last week of the 490-year prophecy but there will be a gap of about 2000 years between the end of the 483 years and the beginning of the seven years. We believe this refers to the seven year birth-pains), but in the middle of the week (literally “in the half of the week”; 1260 days into it, or Nisan 10, three and a half years into the birth-pains) he (the False Messiah) will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering (Titus did this during the siege of Jerusalem, but it will happen again with the False Messiah); and on the wing of abominations (the Romans “overspread” Israel and Judea with their abominations and idolatry, but this will happen again during the birth-pains) will come one who makes desolate (The False Messiah), even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate (the False Messiah will be destroyed-Num 24.24; Dan 11.45; Rev 19.20; 2 Thes 2.8-9).
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