Daniel 9:11-13

9:11 “All Israel has broken ¹  your law and turned away by not obeying you. ²  Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened ³  in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. ⁴  9:12 He has carried out his threats ⁵  against us and our rulers ⁶  who were over ⁷  us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven! 9:13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify ⁸  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ⁹  from your reliable moral standards. ¹⁰ 

[9:11]  ¹ tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.

[9:11]  ² tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”

[9:11]  ³ tn Heb “the curse and the oath which is written.” The term “curse” refers here to the judgments threatened in the Mosaic law (see Deut 28) for rebellion. The expression “the curse and the oath” is probably a hendiadys (cf. Num 5:21; Neh 10:29) referring to the fact that the covenant with its threatened judgments was ratified by solemn oath and made legally binding upon the covenant community.

[9:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “him.”

[9:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”

[9:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “our judges.”

[9:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “who judged.”

[9:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”

[9:13]  ⁹ tn Or “by gaining insight.”

[9:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “by your truth.” The Hebrew term does not refer here to abstract truth, however, but to the reliable moral guidance found in the covenant law. See vv 10-11.