Bible Strands
Daniel 9:16
O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, I pray that Your anger and wrath may turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all around us.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Daniel addresses God during a corporate confession of sin, positioned between his acknowledgment of national wickedness in Daniel 9:15 and his petition for divine favor upon the ruined sanctuary in Daniel 9:17.
The words — The Hebrew אֲדֹנָ֗י ('a.do.Nai) functions as the direct address "O Lord," while the verb יָֽשָׁב\־ (ya.shov-) literally commands the plea for God's anger to "turn back" from the city.
The thread — The request for wrath to depart and God's presence to remain in Jerusalem parallels the promises in Zechariah 8:3 and Psalms 87:1, while the appeal to divine righteousness mirrors the trust language in Psalms 31:1.
Why it lands — The text states that Jerusalem's disgrace results directly from collective and ancestral sin, so the reader must conclude that only God's righteous character, not human merit, can reverse judgment and restore His favor.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
Cross-references
- Zechariah 8:3 This is what the LORD says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of Hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.”
- Psalms 31:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; save me by Your righteousness.
- Psalms 87:1 A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A song. He has founded His city on the holy mountains.
- Daniel 9:20 While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and that of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the LORD my God concerning His holy mountain—
- Joel 3:17 Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners.
- Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
- Psalms 71:2 In Your justice, rescue and deliver me; incline Your ear and save me.
- Psalms 79:4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.
- Lamentations 2:15 All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”
- Leviticus 26:39 Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.