What Does Daniel 9:14 Mean?
Therefore the LORD has kept watch over the evil and brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is aligned in all his works that he does, for we have not heard and responded to his voice.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.THE KEY
The LORD’s “watched” uses the same Hebrew root Jeremiah uses when God says he is watching his word into action.
THE MEANING
The verse names calamity plainly: the LORD watches over it and brings it upon us. It holds that hard claim beside the declaration that his works are aligned and the confession that we have not heard and responded to his voice. The harm remains called evil even as the LORD’s action is called righteous.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that calamity lies outside the LORD’s attention: the verse names the LORD as watchful and active, even as it calls what comes upon us evil.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁקֹד
vayyishqod
GROWS FROM
שקד
sh-q-d
To keep awake, watch attentively.
“kept watch over” in this verse is vayyishqod. English “watched” can sound like observation alone. The same root appears in Jeremiah 1:12, where the LORD watches over his word to perform it; here that watchfulness attends the calamity he brings.
ALSO GROWS
shaqad: To stay alert or watch attentively.
שָׁקַד
This is the verb used here: the calamity is under the LORD’s watchful attention.
shaqed: The almond tree; its Hebrew name echoes the root for watching.
שָׁקֵד
Jeremiah 1:11–12 plays on the almond tree and the LORD watching over his word, linking watchfulness with what comes to pass.
שָׁמַעְנוּ
shama'nu
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear or listen; in context, hearing that calls for a response.
“not heard and responded” in this verse is shama'nu. The Hebrew says that we did not hear or listen to his voice, while the KJV renders the failure as not obeying. The root holds hearing and response together: the failure is not a lack of sound but the absence of an answer.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear, with response implied by the context.
שְׁמַע
It brings out what the verse’s “obeyed not” carries: hearing the voice entails a response.
shemu'ah: Something heard, a report or message.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch keeps the root’s sense of receiving what is heard, against the failure to heed the voice in this verse.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
To be right, just, or aligned.
The verse calls the LORD aligned and extends that claim to all his works. This root connects personal rightness with justice and alignment, holding the reality of harm beside the verse’s claim about the LORD’s action.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Justice, rightness, alignment.
צֶדֶק
It shows the broader quality named when the verse calls the LORD righteous.
tsedaqah: Righteousness, justice, right action.
צְדָקָה
This related form links the LORD’s character to the actions attributed to him in the verse.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s word moves into action, while human hearing is exposed by whether it becomes response.
And the LORD said to me, You have seen well, for I keep watch over my word to do it.But it shall be, if you do not hear and respond to the voice of the LORD your God, to guard and to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
And the LORD said to me, You have seen well, for I keep watch over my word to do it.Daniel’s וַיִּשְׁקֹד (vayyishqod, watched) comes from שקד (shaqad, watch); Jeremiah’s שֹׁקֵד (shoqed, watching) comes from the same root, though the KJV renders it “hasten.” The shared root makes the watchfulness explicit: in Daniel the LORD watches over calamity and brings it, while in Jeremiah he watches over his word to perform it.
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