Daniel 9:3

So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Daniel speaks as the narrator, addressing God directly in the first year of Darius son of Xerxes after recognizing the seventy-year desolation from Jeremiah's books.

The words — The Hebrew phrase וָאֶתֵּן פָּנַי אֶל־אֲדֹנָי הָאֱלֹהִים (va'etten panai el-Adonai ha-Elohim) translates literally as "and I set my face to the Lord God." The noun תְּפִלָּה (tefillah) specifies formal prayer as the primary means of this seeking.

The thread — This deliberate seeking runs parallel to Jeremiah's seventy-year timeline (Jeremiah 29:10) and anticipates the invitation to call on God for revelation (Jeremiah 33:3).

Why it lands — The text records Daniel's physical posture of fasting, sackcloth, and ashes before he begins his confession. It demands that a reader pair urgent supplication with tangible humility when confronting a specific divine promise.

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

וָאֶתְּנָ֣הva./'e.te.Na/hand/ I set/ !אֶת־'et-<obj.>פָּנַ֗יpa.Na/iface/ my אֶל־'el-to אֲדֹנָי֙'a.do.Nai[the] Lord הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔יםha./'E.lo.Him<the>/ God לְבַקֵּ֥שׁle./va.Keshto/ seek תְּפִלָּ֖הte.fi.Lahprayer וְתַחֲנוּנִ֑יםve./ta.cha.nu.Nimand/ supplications בְּצ֖וֹםbe./Tzomwith/ fasting וְשַׂ֥קve./Sakand/ sackcloth וָאֵֽפֶר׃va./'E.ferand/ ash[es]

King James Version

And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

Cross-references

Jeremiah 29:10 For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.
Jeremiah 33:3 Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
Nehemiah 1:4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Esther 4:16 “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”
Ezra 8:21 And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
Ezra 9:5 At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God,
Ezra 10:6 Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and walked to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. And while he stayed there, he ate no food and drank no water, because he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.
James 4:8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Psalms 35:13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered.