What Does Daniel 9:20 Mean?
And while I was speaking, and praying, and speaking my falling short and the falling short of my people Israel into the open, and casting down my plea before the LORD my God for the set-apart mountain of my God;
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
And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;THE KEY
Supplication grows from the root of favor, so the request is already shaped by the favor it seeks.
THE MEANING
The verse holds personal and shared missing together in one confession, then places a request before the LORD with the holy mountain in view. Supplication stands beside confession rather than being hidden by it: need is spoken in the same address as the appeal for favor.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that failure must be hidden before prayer can begin: confession is part of the prayer itself.
THE ROOT
תְּחִנָּתִי
teḥinnātî
GROWS FROM
חנן
show favor; be gracious
“plea” in this verse is teḥinnātî. The word for supplication belongs to חנן (ḥānan, show favor), so the request is formed in the language of appealing to favor. Confession does not cancel the request; the root lets asking and gracious reception touch.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēn: favor; graciousness
חֵן
This related noun carries the root’s sense of favor, showing what the supplication appeals to.
ḥannûn: gracious; one who shows favor
חָנוּן
This adjective from the same root names the quality sought in the request.
חַטָּאתִי
ḥaṭṭāʾtî
GROWS FROM
חטא
miss; go wrong; miss the mark
“sin” in this verse is ḥaṭṭāʾtî. The same root names both the speaker’s missing and the missing of Israel. The confession holds personal and shared failure together rather than placing one outside the prayer.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: to miss; to sin
חָטָא
The verb gives the action behind the confession its root sense of missing.
ḥaṭṭāʾt: sin; sin offering
חַטָּאת
This noun can name both the missing and an offering associated with it, keeping the failure and its answer in one word family.
קָדְשִׁי
qodshî
GROWS FROM
קדש
set apart; consecrate
The mountain is named by its set-apart relation to God. The root makes holiness a matter of belonging and distinction, not merely a quality attached to the place.
ALSO GROWS
qōdeš: set-apartness; holiness
קֹדֶשׁ
This noun names the state carried by the mountain in the verse.
qādōsh: set apart; holy
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective describes what belongs to the root’s realm of consecration.
miqdāsh: sanctuary; sacred place
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary is a place marked by the same root’s sense of being set apart.
THE PATTERN
A plea can name missing openly while reaching toward favor.
And while I was speaking, and praying, and speaking my falling short and the falling short of my people Israel into the open, and casting down my plea before the LORD my God for the set-apart mountain of my God;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba. Show me favor, O God, according to your faithful love; according to the abundance of your compassion, wipe away my rebellion.Let us therefore draw near, with open speech, to the throne of favor, that we may receive compassion, and find favor to help in the right moment.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba. Show me favor, O God, according to your faithful love; according to the abundance of your compassion, wipe away my rebellion.Daniel’s תְּחִנָּה (teḥinnāh, supplication) and the psalm’s חָנֵּנִי (ḥonnēnî, have favor on me) both grow from חנן (ḥānan, show favor). English renders one as “supplication” and the other as “have mercy,” while the shared root ties asking to favor.
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