Daniel 9:5-7 sits inside this longer paragraph.
5we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances. 6We haven’t 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.
7“Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. 8Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. 9To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him. 10We haven’t obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice. “Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us; for we have sinned against him.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv5–7 Daniel here continues his confession of sin. As we…
Daniel here continues his confession of sin. As we have already stated, he ought to begin here, because we must remark in general the impossibility of our pleasing God by our prayers, unless we approach him as criminals, and repose all our hopes on his mercy. But there was a special reason for the extraordinary nature of the Prophet’s prayers, and his use of fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. This was the usual method of confession by which Daniel united himself with the rest of the people, for rite purpose of testifying throughout all ages the justice of the judgment which God had exercised in expelling the Israelites from the promised land, and totally disinheriting them. Daniel, therefore, insists upon this point. Here we may notice, in the first place, how prayers are not rightly conceived, unless founded on faith and repentance, and thus not being according to law, they cannot find either grace or favor before God. But great weight is to be attached to the phrases where Daniel uses more than a single word in saying the people acted impiously. He puts חטאנו, chetanu, we have sinned, in the first place, as the word does not imply any kind of fault, but rather a serious crime or offense. We, therefore, have sinned; then we have done wickedly; afterwards we have acted impiously; for רשע, reshegn, is stronger than חטא, cheta. We have done wickedly, we have been rebellious, says he, in transgressing thy statutes and commandments Whence this copiousness of expression, unless Daniel wished to stimulate himself and the whole people to penitence? For although we are easily induced to confess ourselves guilty before God, yet scarcely one in a hundred is affected with serious remorse; and those who excel others, and purely and reverently fear God, are still very dull and cold in recounting their sins. First of all, they acknowledge scarcely one in a hundred; next, of those which do come into their minds, they do not fully estimate their tremendous guilt, but rather extenuate their magnitude; and, although they perceive themselves worthy of a hundred deaths, yet they are not touched with their bitterness, and fear to humble themselves as they ought, nay, they are scarcely displeased with themselves, and do not loathe their own iniquities. Daniel, therefore, does not accumulate so many words in vain, when he wishes to confess his own sins and those of the people. Let us learn then how far we are from penitence, while we only verbally acknowledge our guilt; then let us perceive the need we have of many incentives to rouse us up from our sloth; for although any one may feel great terrors and tremble before God’s judgments, yet all those feelings of dread vanish away too soon. It therefore becomes necessary to fix God’s fear in our hearts with some degree of violence. Daniel shews us this when using the phrase, The people have sinned; they have acted unjustly; they have conducted themselves wickedly and become rebellious, and declined from the statutes and commandments of God This doctrine, therefore, must be diligently noticed, because, as I have said, all men think they have discharged their duty to God, if they mildly profess themselves guilty before him, and acknowledge their fault in a single word. But as real repentance is a sacred thing, it is a matter of far greater moment than a fiction of this kind. Although the multitude do not perceive how they are only deceiving themselves when they confess a fault, yet in the meantime they are only trifling with God like children, while some say they are but men, and others shelter themselves in the crowd of offenders. “What could I do? I am but a man; I have only followed the example of the many.” Lastly, if we examine carefully the confessions of men in general, we shall always find some latent hypocrisy, and that there are very few who prostrate themselves before God as they ought. We must understand, therefore, this confession of Daniel’s as stimulating himself and others to the fear of God, and as laying great stress upon the sins of the people, that every one may feel for himself real and serious alarms.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v7 Hebrew, confusion of face.
Hebrew, confusion of face.
He showeth that whensoever God punisheth, he doeth it for just cause: and thus the godly never accuse him of rigor as the wicked do, but acknowledge that in themselves there is just cause why he should so entreat them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–7 Dan 9:5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity,…
Dan 9:5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
Ver. 5. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled.] Mark how full in the mouth the good prophet is, and how he exaggerateth, confessing against himself and his people, laying on load. Good men extenuate not their offences; every sin swelleth as a toad in their eyes.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv5–6 As if he had said, We are not only…
As if he had said, We are not only sinners, but our sin is wickedness aggravated to the height: thus much the gradation here intimates, by
doing wickedly and rebelling. In our confessions of sin to God there must be no mincing nor cloaking of sin, but a full and naked discovery, with selfjudging and self-abhorrence. Note here, all along after, this holy man Daniel puts himself in the number of the greatest sinners: so when we are suppliants and penitents, we must include ourselves in the general petition.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–7 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have…
We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled,.... Some think there is a gradation in these words; that they had committed some sins through error and ignorance; others through infirmity and obliquity, or in the perverseness of their spirits, and the crookedness of their ways; and others wilfully and in malice, in the wickedness of their hearts; and others were open acts of hostility against God, casting off his yoke, and refusing obedience to him, and obstinately persisting therein. Jacchiades refers them to sins of actions, words, and thoughts, which they proudly and presumptuously committed. This heap of phrases seems to be used to take in all kind of sin committed by them, and rather to exaggerate than to extenuate them, and to confess them with all their aggravated circumstances; and Daniel puts in himself among the body of the people, as being a member of it, and as well knowing he was not without sin; and therefore willingly took his part in the blame of it, in confession of it, and confusion for it:
even by departing from thy precepts, and from thy judgments; both of a moral and positive nature, which were enjoined by the law of Moses, as the rule of their conduct; but from this they swerved.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v7 Verse 7. All Israel, that are near, and that…
Verse 7. All Israel, that are near, and that are far off] He prays both for Judah and Israel. The latter were more dispersed, and had been much longer in captivity.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv5, 7 Dan 9:5. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity…
Dan 9:5. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity — Daniel uses the same confession here that is prescribed, in Solomon’s consecration prayer, to be used by the Jews in the land of their captivity; with a promise subjoined, of a favourable answer that God would make to their supplications presented to him on such an occasion: see the margin. And being one of the Jewish nation, he speaks of their sins as his own; and, though certainly a most holy man, puts himself among the greatest sinners. There seems to be a kind of gradation in the prophet’s confessions here, beginning with sins in general, and rising to rebellion and apostacy.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv5–7 We have sinned - Though Daniel was alone, he…
We have sinned - Though Daniel was alone, he spake in the name of the people in general - doubtless recounting the long series of crimes in the nation which had preceded the captivity, and which were the cause of the ruin of the city and temple.
And have committed iniquity ... - These varied forms of expression are designed to give “intensity” to what he says. It is equivalent to saying that they had sinned in every way possible. The mind, in a state of true repentance, dwells on its sins, and recounts the various forms in which iniquity has been done, and multiplies expressions of regret and sorrow on account of transgression.
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From thy precepts - Thy commands; thy laws.
Thy judgments - Thy laws - the word “judgments” in the Scripture denoting what God judges to be right for us to do, as well as what it is right for him to inflict.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5–7 Compare Nehemiah's confession (Neh. 9:1-38).
Compare Nehemiah's confession (Neh. 9:1-38).
sinned . . . committed iniquity . . . done wickedly . . . rebelled--a climax. Erred in ignorance . . . sinned by infirmity . . . habitually and wilfully done wickedness . . . as open and obstinate rebels set ourselves against God.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v7 7, 8. The Lord is righteous, and all the…
7, 8. The Lord is righteous, and all the sorrows which have fallen upon Israel have been because of their trespass (or, because of the unfaithfulness that they have committed). (Compare Lev_26:40.) It is this unfaithfulness which causes confusion of faces to all Israel, both rulers and people; those that are near (in Palestine) and those that are far off (the captives in foreign countries).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–7 5. We have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and…
5. We have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly] from 1Ki_8:47, with extremely slight differences, indicated in R.V. by the substitution of done for dealt, and of dealt for done. Psa_106:6 is based similarly on 1Ki_8:47.
and have turned aside from thy commandments] Cf. Deu_17:20; Psa_119:102. ‘Even’ with the partic. is quite false; the construction of the Heb. is one with which every tyro is familiar (Gen_41:43, Exo_8:11, &c.).
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judgements] i.e. ordinances, as the word is sometimes rendered (Jos_24:25; 2Ki_17:34; 2Ki_17:37; Isa_58:2). Properly a judicial decision, which being made legally binding, becomes a standing ordinance; the word being then generalized, it is applied to moral and religious ordinances, as well as to statutes of the civil and criminal law, Exo_21:1). See e.g. Lev_18:4-5; Lev_18:26; Deu_4:1; Deu_4:5; Deu_4:8; Deu_4:14, &c.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–7 (5) We have sinned.—It has been remarked that four…
(5) We have sinned.—It has been remarked that four stages of sin are pointed out by the prophet, corresponding to the four different words which he uses. “Sin” refers especially to sins of deed, “committing iniquity” to sins of word, “done wickedly” to sins of thought, “rebelled” implies the person against whom the sin has been committed. The whole result of sin under these several aspects is expressed by the words “departing from Thy precepts.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv5–7 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have…
We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments. While otherwise close, neither of the Greek versions retains the change of construction before the last clause, which is exhibited in the English versions. The Peshitta fails in this way ale, but uses participles all through. This verso has a strong resemblance to Neh_1:6, Neh_1:7, only in Nehemiah there is more elaboration and all the signs of a later development. There is a climax here from simple sin to rebellion; at the same time, this heaping up of terms so nearly synonymous is more liturgic than literary; these words may have been used in the synagogue service in Babylon.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v6 Neither have we harkened unto thy servants the prophets.
Dan_9:6
Neither have we harkened unto thy servants the prophets.
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The Prophetic Ministry
It was the design of Daniel, in this sentence, to look back upon the whole course of the prophetic ministry that people had enjoyed from the time of its establishment to the time of their humiliation. We now consider the period from the death of Samuel to the close of the Babylonish captivity, a period of more than five hundred years.
I. SOME FACTS CONNECTED WITH THE PROPHETICAL ORDER. It was a class distinct from the priestly class. Their schools. The prophets were the founders of the seminaries of religion, learning, and philosophy, in which a class of men of cultivated minds and of holy hearts were raised up to influence their fellow-men. By the sons of the prophets we are to understand not children, but disciples. Samuel seems to have been the first tutor of these colleges.
2. How were the prophets called? It was not a matter of course, that because a man had been in a collegiate establishment, therefore he should be a prophet of God. God has never tied up His influence, never restricted His grace to any institutions of man, however wise and reasonable they may be. Thus Amos says--I was no prophet, neither was I a prophets son. The Divine call was very discriminating.
3. The customs of the prophets. They were known by their costume. A garment of the coarsest sort--haircloth, and sometimes sackcloth. These were the signs of mourning; and they wore that attire to indicate their grief at the transgressions of the people. They were remarkable in their diet. Their deportment was very reserved and solemn.
4. The nature of their ministry. Their oral addresses were, no doubt, abundant. They addressed the multitude as popular preachers. And they sometimes acted parables. Their written predictions were a third part of their ministry. They were the historians of the church and nation of the Jews.
II. SOME REASONS WHY THE MINISTRY OF THE PROPHETS WAS ORDAINED.
1. It was partly to counteract the tendencies of an established priesthood. Under priesthoods men are in great danger of losing all view of the spiritual and moral part of their office, and sinking down into that which is merely ceremonial and ritual. The prophets often arraign the priests--often charge upon them, in very plain end faithful terms, their wickedness. Morality must ever take the lead of ceremonial institutions. God regards obedience rather than sacrifice.
2. They were to enforce the authority of the Divine law. No man can acheive anything great in reference to his fellow-men who has not first achieved the conquest of himself. The prophets were men who had learned to deny themselves, and then men who had seen visions of eternity.
3. To correct the tendency of the people to trust in heathen oracles.
4. To excite the hope of the Divine mercy in the minds of the people.
III. THE SUBJECTS INCLUDED IN THE MINISTRATIONS OF THE PROPHETS.
1. They embrace the whole social condition of the Jews during five hundred years. We say that history is the key to prophecy; but prophecy amongst the Jews was the key to history.
2. They were employed to announce the judicial visitations that should come upon the heathen.
3. A third class of subjects was a description of the Christian dispensation, as it should be set up by Messiah. (J. Blackburn.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 7 General Information:
General Information:
Daniel continues praying to the Lord about the people of Israel.
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We have sinned and have done what is wrong
These two phrases express one idea in two different ways for emphasis. (See: Parallelism)
We have acted wickedly and we have rebelled
These two phrases express one idea in two different ways for emphasis. (See: Parallelism)
your commands and decrees
The words "commands" and "decrees" share similar meanings and refer to the whole law. (See: Doublet)
We have not listened to your servants
Here "not listened" means they did not obey their message. AT: "We have not obeyed the message of your prophets" (See: Metonymy)
spoke in your name
Here "name" refers to God's authority. AT: "spoke with your authority" or "spoke as your representative" (See: Metonymy)
the people of the land
Here "land" refers to Israel. AT: "the Israelite people"
translationWords
sin
evil
rebel
turn
command
decree
servant
prophet
king
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5–7 9:5 Daniel used four different words meaning sin: The…
9:5 Daniel used four different words meaning sin: The people had sinned (literally missed the mark), done wrong (i.e., committed a bent or twisted act), rebelled against the covenant, and scorned (literally turned away from) the Lord’s instructions.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.