What Does Daniel 9:9 Mean in the King James?
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
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
The verse lets rebellion remain true while showing that compassion and pardon still belong to God.
THE MEANING
Your rebellion is not hidden or renamed; it remains in the sentence. Yet compassion and pardon belong to the Lord your God even here, holding the rupture and the possibility of release together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that rebellion leaves only distance, with no compassion or pardon remaining.
THE ROOT
הָרַחֲמִים
haraḥamim
GROWS FROM
רחם
r-ḥ-m
To show tender compassion; the root is associated with רֶחֶם (reḥem), meaning womb.
The word for “mercies” shares its root with “womb” and “compassionate.” It opens compassion as tender, life-protecting care, named here without concealing rebellion.
ALSO GROWS
reḥem: Womb
רֶחֶם
This related word gives compassion a bodily image of tender, protective care.
raḥum: Compassionate, merciful
רַחוּם
This describes the compassionate nature behind the “mercies” named in the verse.
raḥamim: Compassion, mercies
רַחֲמִים
This is the form used in the verse, placing compassion beside the confessed rebellion.
הַסְּלִחוֹת
haselichot
GROWS FROM
סלח
s-l-ḥ
To forgive or pardon.
The Hebrew uses a plural form for “forgivenesses,” or pardons. Pardon stands beside the confessed revolt without turning revolt into innocence.
ALSO GROWS
sālaḥ: To forgive, pardon
סָלַח
This verb shows forgiveness as an act of pardon, not only a quality or feeling.
seliḥah: Pardon, forgiveness
סְלִיחָה
This related noun makes the verse’s plural “forgivenesses” legible as pardons.
THE PATTERN
Compassion and pardon meet failure while it is still named.
For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.THE THREAD
O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.The Hebrew for “mercies” repeats רחמים (raḥamim), from רחם (raḥam, to show compassion), the root at the center of verse 9. The prayer grounds its appeal not in human righteousness but in the same compassionate nature named there.
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