What Does Daniel 9:3 Mean in the King James?
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Seeking begins as a face deliberately placed toward God, so the whole person’s direction becomes prayer.
THE MEANING
Your face is directed toward God, and your seeking takes shape in prayer and petition. Fasting, sackcloth, and ashes place the body inside that plea for favor, making the seeking visible as well as spoken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that prayer is only spoken words: face, fasting, sackcloth, and ashes also give the seeking its form.
THE ROOT
וָאֶתְּנָה
va’ettenah
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
give, place, set
The verb וָאֶתְּנָה (va’ettenah, “I gave/placed”) comes from נתן (natan, “give, place, set”). The phrase makes the face itself what is placed toward God: seeking begins as deliberate placement of attention.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
This branch carries the root’s sense of giving, echoing the verse’s image of giving one’s face toward God.
netinah: giving, donation
נְתִינָה
It shows that the verb translated “set” also carries the movement of giving.
פָּנַי
panai
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
turn, face toward
פָּנִים (panim, “face/presence”) is linked with פָּנָה (panah, “turn, face toward”). The face in this phrase carries direction: the seeking is a turning of presence toward the one addressed.
ALSO GROWS
p’nei: face of, presence of
פְּנֵי
This form keeps the face linked with presence, so setting the face also directs the self toward God.
peniyah: turning, approach
פְּנִיָּה
This branch makes the movement within the verse visible: the face turns toward the one being sought.
תַּחֲנוּנִים
tachanunim
GROWS FROM
חנן
ḥ-n-n
show favor, be gracious
תַּחֲנוּנִים (tachanunim, “supplications”) comes from חנן (chanan, “show favor, be gracious”). The petition is therefore a plea for favor, a connection English can leave hidden when it renders the word simply as “supplications.”
ALSO GROWS
chen: favor
חֵן
This is the favor sought in the supplication.
chanun: gracious
חַנּוּן
This branch describes the one whose favor the supplication seeks.
THE PATTERN
Seeking God gathers directed attention, voiced petition, and bodily posture into one movement.
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.THE THREAD
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.Psalm 27:8 joins the same two words Daniel joins: בַּקֵּשׁ (baqash, “seek/request”) and פָּנִים (panim, “face/presence”). The call to seek God’s face is answered by setting one’s face toward God, turning the search into a response to an invitation.
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