my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our
desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not
for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but
for the multitude of thy tender mercies.

9:19. O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken, and do: delay not, for
thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and
upon thy people.

9:20. Now while I was yet speaking, and praying, and confessing my sins,
and the sins of my people of Israel, and presenting my supplications in
the sight of my God, for the holy mountain of my God:

9:21. As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man, Gabriel, whom I
had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me at
the time of the evening sacrifice.

The man Gabriel... The angel Gabriel in the shape of a man.

9:22. And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am
now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand.

9:23. From the beginning of thy prayers the word came forth: and I am
come to shew it to thee, because thou art a man of desires: therefore,
do thou mark the word, and understand the vision.

Man of desires... that is, ardently praying for the Jews then in
captivity.

9:24. Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy
city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and
iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and
vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the Saint of saints may be
anointed.

Seventy weeks... Viz., of years, (or seventy times seven, that is, 490
years,) are shortened; that is, fixed and determined, so that the time
shall be no longer.

9:25. Know thou, therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth
of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ, the prince, there
shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built
again, and the walls, in straitness of times.

From the going forth of the word, etc... That is, from the twentieth
year of king Artaxerxes, when by his commandment Nehemias rebuilt the
walls of Jerusalem, 2 Esd. 2. From which time, according to the best
chronology, there were just sixty-nine weeks of years, that is, 483
years to the baptism of Christ, when he first began to preach and
execute the office of Messias.-Ibid. In straitness of times... angustia
temporum: which may allude both to the difficulties and opposition they