Daniel 9:8
in Daniel 9O LORD, we are covered with shame—our kings, our leaders, and our fathers—because we have sinned against You.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
KJV
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
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This verse in Daniel 9
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
righteousness belongeth unto thee
on Daniel 9:7-14
The confession turns forensic: righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, and the curse poured upon Israel is named as the very curse written in the law of Moses, the covenant sanctions of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 come due. Daniel prays as a man who has read his own nation's indictment and signs it rather than disputing it, all this evil is come upon us, yet we made not our prayer before the Lord, admitting the neglect that let the judgment run its course. The Lord is righteous in all his works, the confession states, even the work of Jerusalem's own devastation.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Each of these would be enough to turn the most savage person to tears, not to mention what it would do to the gentle and humane individual. Through these words he shows that not only the lowest and unnoticed of the people had been filled …
Verse 8. "'Unto Thee belongeth mercy, O Lord our God, and also propitiation...'" Concerning the same God of Whom he had previously said, "To Thee, O Lord, belongeth justice," he now says (since the Lord is not only just but also merciful): "To Thee belongeth mercy." He says this in order that he might call upon the Judge to show mercy, after His sentence has been imposed.
Daniel was despondent and in pain. It was not merely the present troubles alone that bothered him but also the troubles to come, since he had not yet been allowed to learn those things through his prophetic eyes. When he saw that the Jews had not yet been freed from their earlier servitude, he was compelled to see another captivity falling on them, and he saw the city that had not yet been rebuilt being captured again. He saw the temple defiled by sacrifices and made desolate and the Holy of Holies overturned.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), who should have set a better example, and have used their authority and influence for the checking of the threatening torrent of vice profaneness." 6. He imputes the continuance of the judgment to their incorrigibleness under it (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+odd-straight-quotes
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face,....
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion ... - To all of us; to the whole people, high and low, rich and poor, the rulers and the ruled. All had been partakers of the guilt; all were involved in the calamities consequent on the guilt. As all had sinned, the judgments had come upon all, and it was proper that the confession should be made in the name of all.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְהוָ֗ה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| לָ֚נוּ | lanu | [belongs] to us | ||
| בֹּ֣שֶׁת | boshet | [the] shame of | H1322 → | |
| הַפָּנִ֔ים | hapanim | the faces | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| לִמְלָכֵ֥ינוּ | limlakheinu | to kings our | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| לְשָׂרֵ֖ינוּ | lesareinu | to leaders our | H8269 → | 421 times |
| וְלַאֲבֹתֵ֑ינוּ | velaavoteinu | and to ancestors our | H1 → | 1212 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | that | H834 → | 5497 times |
| חָטָ֖אנוּ | chatanu | we have sinned | H2398 → | 238 times |
| לָֽךְ׃ | lakh | to you |
יְהוָ֗הO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
לָ֚נוּ[belongs] to us
lanu
בֹּ֣שֶׁת[the] shame of
boshetH1322 →
הַפָּנִ֔יםthe faces
hapanimH6440 →2123 times
לִמְלָכֵ֥ינוּto kings our
limlakheinuH4428 →2525 times
לְשָׂרֵ֖ינוּto leaders our
lesareinuH8269 →421 times
וְלַאֲבֹתֵ֑ינוּand to ancestors our
velaavoteinuH1 →1212 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רthat
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
חָטָ֖אנוּwe have sinned
chatanuH2398 →238 times
לָֽךְ׃to you
lakh
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Lamentations 1:18The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.
it leads to
- Psalms 119:75
I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
- 1 Samuel 12:14–15
If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and if you do not rebel against the command of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over…
- Zephaniah 3:5
The LORD within her is righteous; He does no wrong. He applies His justice morning by morning; He does not fail at dawn, yet the unjust know no shame.
- Lamentations 1:12
Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day…
- Jeremiah 12:1
Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live…
- Psalms 119:75
Through
Jeremiah 14:20We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, the guilt of our fathers; indeed, we have sinned against You.
it leads to
- Psalms 32:5
Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
- Jeremiah 3:25
Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have…
- Luke 15:18–21
I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
- Psalms 32:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies12
About Daniel
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel; Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER NINE; John Chrysostom, TO STAGIRIUS 1-3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 9:8.