Daniel 9:15

9:15 “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power ¹  and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day – we have sinned and behaved wickedly.

Daniel 9:1

Daniel Prays for His People

9:1 In the first year of Darius ²  son of Ahasuerus, ³  who was of Median descent and who had been ⁴  appointed king over the Babylonian ⁵  empire –

Daniel 8:1-2

Daniel Has a Vision of a Goat and a Ram

8:1 ⁶ In the third year ⁷  of King Belshazzar’s reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me previously. ⁸  8:2 In this ⁹  vision I saw myself in Susa ¹⁰  the citadel, ¹¹  which is located in the province of Elam. In the vision I saw myself at the Ulai Canal. ¹² 

Daniel 6:1

Daniel is Thrown into a Lions’ Den

6:1 It seemed like a good idea to Darius ¹³  to appoint over the kingdom 120 satraps ¹⁴  who would be in charge of the entire kingdom.

Ezra 9:6

9:6 I prayed, ¹⁵ 

“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens.

Nehemiah 1:6-8

1:6 may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed ¹⁶  against you – both I myself and my family ¹⁷  have sinned. 1:7 We have behaved corruptly against you, not obeying the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments that you commanded your servant Moses. 1:8 Please recall the word you commanded your servant Moses: ‘If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the nations. ¹⁸ 

Nehemiah 9:33-34

9:33 You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. ¹⁹  It is we who have been in the wrong! 9:34 Our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept your law. They have not paid attention to your commandments or your testimonies by which you have solemnly admonished them.

Psalms 106:6

106:6 We have sinned like ²⁰  our ancestors; ²¹ 

we have done wrong, we have done evil.

Isaiah 64:5-7

64:5 You assist ²²  those who delight in doing what is right, ²³ 

who observe your commandments. ²⁴ 

Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.

How then can we be saved? ²⁵ 

64:6 We are all like one who is unclean,

all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ²⁶ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

64:7 No one invokes ²⁷  your name,

or makes an effort ²⁸  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ²⁹ 

and handed us over to our own sins. ³⁰ 

Jeremiah 3:25

3:25 Let us acknowledge ³¹  our shame.

Let us bear the disgrace that we deserve. ³² 

For we have sinned against the Lord our God,

both we and our ancestors.

From earliest times to this very day

we have not obeyed the Lord our God.’

Jeremiah 14:7

14:7 Then I said, ³³ 

“O Lord, intervene for the honor of your name ³⁴ 

even though our sins speak out against us. ³⁵ 

Indeed, ³⁶  we have turned away from you many times.

We have sinned against you.

[9:15]  ¹ tn Heb “with a powerful hand.”

[9:1]  ² sn The identity of this Darius is a major problem in correlating the biblical material with the extra-biblical records of this period. Most modern scholars treat the reference as a mistaken allusion to Darius Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.). Others have maintained instead that this name is a reference to the Persian governor Gubaru. Still others understand the reference to be to the Persian king Cyrus (cf. 6:28, where the vav (ו) may be understood as vav explicativum, meaning “even”). Under either of these latter two interpretations, the first year of Darius would have been ca. 538 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately eighty-two years old at this time.

[9:1]  ³ tc The LXX reads “Xerxes.” This is the reading used by some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV). Most other English versions retain the Hebrew name “Ahasuerus.”

[9:1]  ⁴ tc The present translation follows the MT in reading a Hophal (i.e., passive). Theodotion, the Syriac, and the Vulgate all presuppose the Hiphil (i.e., active). Even though this is the only occurrence of the Hophal of this verb in the Bible, there is no need to emend the vocalization to the Hiphil.

[9:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.”

[8:1]  ⁶ sn Dan 8:1 marks the switch from Aramaic (= 2:4b-7:28) back to Hebrew as the language in which the book is written in its present form. The remainder of the book from this point on (8:1-12:13) is in Hebrew. The bilingual nature of the book has been variously explained, but it most likely has to do with the book’s transmission history.

[8:1]  ⁷ sn The third year of King Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 551 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 69 years old at the time of this vision.

[8:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the beginning.” This refers to the vision described in chapter seven.

[8:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “the.”

[8:2]  ¹⁰ sn Susa (Heb. שׁוּשַׁן, shushan), located some 230 miles (380 km) east of Babylon, was a winter residence for Persian kings during the Achaemenid period. The language of v. 2 seems to suggest that Daniel may not have been physically present at Susa, but only saw himself there in the vision. However, the Hebrew is difficult, and some have concluded that the first four words of v. 2 in the MT are a later addition (cf. Theodotion).

[8:2]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word בִּירָה (birah, “castle, palace”) usually refers to a fortified structure within a city, but here it is in apposition to the city name Susa and therefore has a broader reference to the entire city (against this view, however, see BDB 108 s.v. 2). Cf. NAB “the fortress of Susa”; TEV “the walled city of Susa.”

[8:2]  ¹² tn The term אוּבַל (’uval = “stream, river”) is a relatively rare word in biblical Hebrew, found only here and in vv. 3 and 6. The Ulai was apparently a sizable artificial canal in Susa (cf. NASB, NIV, NCV), and not a river in the ordinary sense of that word.

[6:1]  ¹³ tn Aram “It was pleasing before Darius.”

[6:1]  ¹⁴ tn This is a technical term for an official placed in charge of a region of the empire (cf. KJV, NLT “prince[s]”; NCV, TEV “governors”). These satraps were answerable to a supervisor, who in turn answered to Darius.

[9:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I said.”

[1:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “have sinned.” For stylistic reasons – to avoid redundancy in English – this was translated as “committed.”

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the house of my father.”

[1:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “peoples.”

[9:33]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you have done truth.”

[106:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “with.”

[106:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 7).

[64:5]  ²² tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”

[64:5]  ²³ tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”

[64:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”

[64:5]  ²⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).

[64:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”

[64:7]  ²⁷ tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ²⁸ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ³⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.

[3:25]  ³¹ tn Heb “Let us lie down in….”

[3:25]  ³² tn Heb “Let us be covered with disgrace.”

[14:7]  ³³ tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. However, it cannot be a continuation of the Lord’s speech and the people have consistently refused to acknowledge their sin. The fact that the prayer here and in vv. 19-22 are followed by an address from God to Jeremiah regarding prayer (cf. 4:11 and the interchanges there between God and Jeremiah and 15:1) also argues that the speaker is Jeremiah. He is again identifying with his people (cf. 8:18-9:2). Here he takes up the petition part of the lament which often contains elements of confession of sin and statements of trust. In 14:1-6 God portrays to Jeremiah the people’s lamentable plight instead of their describing it to him. Here Jeremiah prays what they should pray. The people are strangely silent throughout.

[14:7]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Act for the sake of your name.” The usage of “act” in this absolute, unqualified sense cf. BDB 794 s.v. עָוֹשָׂה Qal.I.r and compare the usage, e.g., in 1 Kgs 8:32 and 39. For the nuance of “for the sake of your name” compare the usage in Isa 48:9 and Ezek 20:9, 14.

[14:7]  ³⁵ tn Or “bear witness against us,” or “can be used as evidence against us,” to keep the legal metaphor. Heb “testify against.”

[14:7]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can scarcely be causal here; it is either intensive (BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e) or concessive (BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.c). The parallel usage in Gen 18:20 argues for the intensive force as does the fact that the concessive has already been expressed by אִם (’im).