Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies.
Daniel 9:16 O Lord, against all thy justice: let thy wrath and thy indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city, Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain. For by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and thy people, are a reproach to all that are round about us.
Daniel 9:17 Now, therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and shew thy face upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate, for thy own sake.
Daniel 9:18 Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies.
Daniel 9:19 O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken, and do: delay not, for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people.
Daniel 9:20 Now while I was yet speaking, and praying, and confessing my sins, and the sins of my people of Israel, and presenting my supplications in the sight of my God, for the holy mountain of my God:
The verse centers on "called", "incline", "hear", "open", "eyes", "desolation", "city", and "upon". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "called" and "incline", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Now therefore O our God hear the..." into verse 19's "O Lord hear O Lord be appeased...", so "called" and "incline" belong inside that flow. In Daniel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "called" and "incline" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.