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Literal Standard Version

Daniel 9:3

and I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek [by] prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ashes;   Fasting;   Intercession;   Nation;   Prayer;   Prophets;   Sackcloth;   Seekers;   Thompson Chain Reference - Dead, the;   Joy-Sorrow;   Mourning;   Sackcloth;   Seekers;   Seeking God;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Fasting;   Judgments;   Prayer;   Prayer, Intercessory;   Prayer, Private;   Seeking God;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Daniel;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Fasting;   Sackcloth;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Fast, Fasting;   Humility;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Reconciliation;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Confession;   Sanctification;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Captivity;   Prayer;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Daniel, Book of;   Ezekiel;   Repentance;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Fasting;   Prayer;   Thessalonians, Second Epistle to the;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Ordination;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - God;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Ashes;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Sackcloth;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Babylonish Captivity, the;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Ashes;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Fasting and Fast-Days;   Prayer;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for February 17;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Hebrew Names Version
I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
King James Version
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
English Standard Version
Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
New American Standard Bible
So I gave my attention to the Lord God, to seek Him by prayer and pleading, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
New Century Version
Then I turned to the Lord God and prayed and asked him for help. To show my sadness, I fasted, put on rough cloth, and sat in ashes.
Amplified Bible
So I directed my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And I turned my face vnto the Lord God, and sought by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
Berean Standard Bible
So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Contemporary English Version
Then, to show my sorrow, I went without eating and dressed in sackcloth and sat in ashes. I confessed my sins and earnestly prayed to the Lord my God: Our Lord, you are a great and fearsome God, and you faithfully keep your agreement with those who love and obey you.
Complete Jewish Bible
I turned to Adonai, God, to seek an answer, pleading with him in prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
Darby Translation
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes;
Easy-to-Read Version
Then I turned to the Lord God. I prayed to him and asked him for help. I did not eat any food. I put ashes on my head and put on the clothes that showed I was sad.
George Lamsa Translation
And I lifted up my face before the LORD God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and with sackcloth and with ashes;
Good News Translation
And I prayed earnestly to the Lord God, pleading with him, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.
Lexham English Bible
Then I turned my face to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and pleas for mercy, in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes.
Literal Translation
And I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek by prayer and holy desires, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
ad I turned me vnto God the LORDE, for to praye and make myne intercessio, with fastinge, sackcloth ad ashes
American Standard Version
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
Bible in Basic English
And turning my face to the Lord God, I gave myself up to prayer, requesting his grace, going without food, in haircloth and dust.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.
King James Version (1611)
And I set my face vnto the Lord God to seeke by prayer, and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And I turned my face vnto the Lord God, and sought by prayer and supplication, with fasting, sackcloth, and asshes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek him diligently by prayer and supplications, with fastings and sackcloth.
English Revised Version
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.
World English Bible
I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Y settide my face to my Lord God, to preie and to biseche in fastyngis, in sak, and aische.
Update Bible Version
And I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
Webster's Bible Translation
And I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
New English Translation
So I turned my attention to the Lord God to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
New King James Version
Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
New Living Translation
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.
New Life Bible
So I turned to the Lord God in prayer and did not eat. I dressed in cloth made from hair, and threw ashes on myself.
New Revised Standard
Then I turned to the Lord God, to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek him by prayer, and supplication, - with fasting, and sackcloth and ashes;
Douay-Rheims Bible
And I set my face to the Lord, my God, to pray and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.
Revised Standard Version
Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
Young's Literal Translation
and I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek [by] prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

Contextual Overview

1"In the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who has been made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 2in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, have understood by scrolls the number of the years (in that a word of YHWH has been to Jeremiah the prophet), concerning the fulfilling of the desolations of Jerusalem—seventy years; 3and I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek [by] prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I set: Daniel 6:10, Nehemiah 1:4-11, Psalms 102:13-17, Jeremiah 29:10-13, Jeremiah 33:3, Ezekiel 36:37, James 5:16-18

with: Daniel 10:2, Daniel 10:3, Ezra 8:21, Ezra 9:5, Ezra 10:6, Nehemiah 1:4, Nehemiah 9:1, Esther 4:1-3, Esther 4:16, Psalms 35:13, Psalms 69:10, Psalms 69:11, Isaiah 22:12, Joel 1:13, Joel 2:12, Jonah 3:6-9, Luke 2:37, Acts 10:30, James 4:8-10

Reciprocal: Leviticus 16:21 - confess over Leviticus 26:40 - confess 1 Samuel 7:6 - fasted 1 Kings 8:33 - pray 1 Kings 18:42 - he cast himself 2 Kings 19:15 - prayed 1 Chronicles 22:19 - set your 2 Chronicles 6:24 - pray 2 Chronicles 6:38 - pray toward 2 Chronicles 20:3 - proclaimed Ezra 8:23 - we fasted Ezra 10:1 - when Ezra Nehemiah 9:2 - confessed Esther 4:3 - many lay in sackcloth and ashes Job 9:15 - I would Job 42:6 - repent Psalms 27:4 - seek Psalms 102:17 - He will Psalms 137:1 - we wept Ecclesiastes 7:3 - is better Isaiah 37:15 - General Isaiah 45:11 - Ask Isaiah 58:5 - it such Jeremiah 29:12 - General Jeremiah 51:50 - remember Ezekiel 6:9 - remember Daniel 10:12 - from Matthew 6:16 - when Matthew 17:21 - but Mark 9:29 - fasting Luke 10:13 - repented Luke 11:9 - seek Acts 13:2 - fasted 1 Peter 1:10 - and

Cross-References

Genesis 9:1
And God blesses Noah and his sons, and says to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth;
Genesis 9:3
Every creeping thing that is alive, to you it is for food; as the green herb I have given to you the whole;
Genesis 9:5
And only your blood for your lives do I require; from the hand of every living thing I require it, and from the hand of man, from the hand of every man's brother I require the life of man;
Genesis 9:12
And God says, "This is a token of the covenant which I am giving between Me and you, and every living creature that [is] with you, to continuous generations;
Genesis 9:14
and it has come to pass (in My sending a cloud over the earth) that the bow has been seen in the cloud,
Genesis 9:15
and I have remembered My covenant which is between Me and you, and every living creature among all flesh, and the waters no longer become a flood to destroy all flesh;
Genesis 9:21
and drinks of the wine, and is drunken, and uncovers himself in the midst of the tent.
Genesis 9:22
And Ham, father of Canaan, sees the nakedness of his father, and declares to his two brothers outside.
Genesis 9:25
and says: "Cursed [is] Canaan, || Servant of servants he is to his brothers."
Genesis 9:26
And he says: "Blessed of my God YHWH [is] Shem, || And Canaan is servant to him.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications,.... He set apart some time on purpose for this service, distinct from his usual stated times of prayer, as well as from his civil business and employment; and he not only set his face toward Jerusalem, as he used to do, Daniel 6:10, the more to affect his mind with the desolations the city and temple lay in; but towards the Lord God, the sovereign Lord of all, who does according to his will in heaven and in earth, the Governor of the universe, the one true God, Father, Son, and Spirit: and this denotes the intenseness of his spirit in prayer; the fixedness of his heart; the ardour of his mind; the fervency of his soul; his holy confidence in God; the freedom and boldness he used in prayer, and his constancy and continuance in it; which is a principal means, and a proper manner of seeking God. The Septuagint version, agreeably to the Hebrew text d, renders it, "to seek prayer and supplications"; such as were suitable and pertinent to the present case; most beneficial and interesting to him and his people, and most acceptable to the Lord:

with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes; as was usual on extraordinary occasions, in times of public mourning; and this he did, to show his sense of the divine Being, and of his own unworthiness to ask or receive anything of him; his great humiliation for the sins of the people; and to distinguish this prayer of his from ordinary ones, and to affect his own heart in it, with the sad condition his nation, city, and temple were in; and therefore abstained from food for a time, put sackcloth on his loins, and ashes on his head, or sat in them.

d לבקש תפלה ותחנונים του εκζητησαι προσευχην και δεησεις, Sept; "ad quaerendum orationem et deprecationes", Montanus; "ad quaerendam orationem et supplicationem", Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I set my face unto the Lord God - Probably the meaning is, that he turned his face toward Jerusalem, the place where God had dwelt; the place of his holy abode on earth. See the notes at Daniel 6:10. The language, however, would not be inappropriate to denote prayer without such a supposition. We turn to one whom we address, and so prayer may be described by “setting the face toward God.” The essential idea here is, that he engaged in a set and formal prayer; he engaged in earnest devotion. He evidently set apart a time for this, for he prepared himself by fasting, and by putting on sackcloth and ashes.

To seek by prayer and supplications - To seek his favor; to pray that he would accomplish his purposes. The words “prayer and supplications,” which are often found united, would seem to denote “earnest” prayer, or prayer when mercy was implored - the notion of “mercy” or “favor” implored entering into the meaning of the Hebrew word rendered “supplications.”

With fasting - In view of the desolations of the city and temple; the calamities that had come upon the people; their sins, etc.; and in order also that the mind might be prepared for earnest and fervent prayer. The occasion was one of great importance, and it was proper that the mind should be prepared for it by fasting. It was the purpose of Daniel to humble himself before God, and to recal the sins of the nation for which they now suffered, and fasting was an appropriate means of doing that.

And sackcloth - Sackcloth was a coarse kind of cloth, usually made of hair, and employed for the purpose of making sacks, bags, etc. As it was dark, and coarse, and rough, it was regarded as a proper badge of mourning and humiliation, and was worn as such usually by passing or girding it around the loins. See the notes at Isaiah 3:24; Job 16:15.

And ashes - It was customary to cast ashes on the head in a time of great grief and sorrow. The principles on which this was done seem to have been,

(a) that the external appearance should correspond with the state of the mind and the heart, and

(b) that such external circumstances would have a tendency to produce a state of heart corresponding to them - or would produce true humiliation and repentance for sin.

Compare the notes at Job 2:8. The practical truth taught in this verse, in connection with the preceding, is, that the fact that a thing is certainly predicted, and that God means to accomplish it, is an encouragement to prayer, and will lead to prayer. We could have no encouragement to pray except in the purposes and promises of God, for we have no power ourselves to accomplish the things for which we pray, and all must depend on his will. When that will is known it is the very thing to encourage us in our approaches to him, and is all the assurance that we need to induce us to pray.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Daniel 9:3. I set my face - to seek by prayer — He found that the time of the promised deliverance could not be at any great distance; and as he saw nothing that indicated a speedy termination of their oppressive captivity, he was very much afflicted, and earnestly besought God to put a speedy end to it; and how earnestly he seeks, his own words show. He prayed, he supplicated, he fasted, he put sackcloth upon his body, and he put ashes upon his head. He uses that kind of prayer prescribed by Solomon in his prayer at the dedication of the temple. See 1 Kings 8:47-48.


 
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