What Does Daniel 9:19 Mean?
O Lord, hear; O Lord, release; O Lord, give ear and act; do not hold back, for your own sake, O my God, for your city and your people are called by your name."
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
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.THE KEY
The prayer rests on the name the city and people bear: their need calls God to act in keeping with his own nature.
THE MEANING
This prayer gives your present urgency its words: hear and respond, release, attend, act; do not delay. Its ground is God’s own nature, carried by the city and people called by that name.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that mercy is available only when the people deserve it; the prayer appeals to God’s own name.
THE ROOT
סְלַח
sĕlaḥ
GROWS FROM
סלח
S-L-Ḥ
Pardon, forgive.
“release” in this verse is sĕlaḥ. Daniel asks for pardon between the pleas to hear and to act, placing it within a direct appeal for response. The same root appears beside “for thy name’s sake” in Psalm 25:11, joining pardon to the nature carried by God’s name.
ALSO GROWS
salach: Pardon or forgive; release the guilt’s claim.
סָלַח
This is the verb Daniel uses, making the plea one for release.
selichah: Forgiveness or pardon.
סְלִיחָה
The related noun names the pardon sought in the verse.
selichot: Pardons; pleas for forgiveness.
סְלִיחוֹת
This related form shows the root also names appeals for pardon.
נִקְרָא
niqra
GROWS FROM
קרא
Q-R-ʾ
Call, summon, proclaim, or name.
“called” in this verse is niqra. The verb can mean to call, summon, or name. Paired with שֵׁם (shem, name and nature), it describes a people whose identity is bound to the name they bear.
ALSO GROWS
qara: Call out, summon, or name.
קָרָא
The underlying verb holds calling and naming together.
miqra: A convocation or assembly called together.
מִקְרָא
The branch shows how a call can gather people into a shared identity.
שְׁמָעָה
shĕmāʿāh
GROWS FROM
שמע
Sh-M-ʿ
Hear and listen; hear with response when the context calls for it.
“hear” in this verse is shĕmāʿāh. The prayer moves from hearing to pardon, attention, and action. Here, hearing is asked to become response, not remain mere reception.
ALSO GROWS
shama: Hear or listen; hear and respond when response is implied.
שָׁמַע
This root gives Daniel’s opening plea its sense of attentive response.
shemuʿah: A report or news; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The related noun makes the link between hearing and what is received explicit.
THE PATTERN
The plea for mercy and restoration rests on the nature carried by God’s name, even when the people’s brokenness is exposed.
He turns back my living soul; he leads me in the tracks of alignment for the sake of his nature.Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD, I do not do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for the sake of my set-apart name, which you pierced among the nations, wherever you went.I write to you, little children, because your shortcomings are released to you for the sake of his nature.THE THREAD
For the sake of your nature, LORD, release my crookedness, for it is great.Psalm 25:11 uses the same Hebrew root סלח (salach, pardon or forgive) and ties it directly to “thy name’s sake.” The plea leaves the guilt explicit, “for it is great”, and locates its ground in the nature carried by God’s name.
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