Daniel 9:9 (DRB)

Passage

But to thee, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have departed from thee:

Nearby Context

Daniel 9:7 To thee, O Lord, justice: but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to them that are near, and to them that are far off, in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, for their iniquities, by which they have sinned against thee.

Daniel 9:8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, that have sinned.

Daniel 9:9 But to thee, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have departed from thee:

Daniel 9:10 And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, our God, to walk in his law, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets.

Daniel 9:11 And all Israel have transgressed thy law, and have turned away from hearing thy voice, and the malediction, and the curse, which is written in the book of Moses, the servant of God, is fallen upon us, because we have sinned against him.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "O Lord to us belongeth confusion of..." into verse 10's "And we have not hearkened to the...", so "mercy" and "thee" 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 "thee" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.