Daniel 9:4 (DRB)

Passage

And I prayed to the Lord, my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments.

Nearby Context

Daniel 9:2 The first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, the prophet, that seventy years should be accomplished of the desolation of Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:3 And I set my face to the Lord, my God, to pray and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

Daniel 9:4 And I prayed to the Lord, my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments.

Daniel 9:5 We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and have revolted: and we have gone aside from thy commandments, and thy judgments.

Daniel 9:6 We have not hearkened to thy servants, the prophets, that have spoken in thy name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mercy", "prayed", "lord", "confession", "said", "beseech", "thee", and "great". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mercy" and "prayed", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "And I set my face to the..." into verse 5's "We have sinned we have committed iniquity...", so "mercy" and "prayed" 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 "mercy" and "prayed" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.