Daniel 9:15

"And now, O Lord our God, thou hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, let thine anger and thy wrath, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city of Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins and for the iniquity of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us. Now therefore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. 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 righteousness, but for thy great mercies' sake. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name."

This prayer reaches an amazing intensity and fervency in the final clauses. Note also the repeated references to the destroyed temple and the devastated city. Also, of interest is the basis of Daniel's prayer:

(1) the previous blessings of God are mentioned;

(2) the persistent sins of the people are repeatedly confessed;

(3) it is admitted that the reproach which has fallen upon Israel is of their own sinful deeds and entirely their fault;

(4) not any righteousness either of the people or of Daniel are alleged as grounds for the requests uttered, but "the righteousness and mercies of God" are pleaded as the grounds of hope. Surely, this is one of the greatest prayers ever spoken.

We shall pass over the nonsense in which critical enemies have tried to find out where Daniel got the terminology used in this prayer. Sure enough, there are certain phrases and expressions which are common to many who came both before and after Daniel; but there is nothing of any importance to be gained from such comparisons. As to the problem which must be solved when two writers used similar expressions, as to which one of them was "the original"; it is usually impossible to know. Keil alleged that in some of the similarities between Daniel and other writers, "Daniel did not borrow from Ezra or Nehemiah; but they borrowed from him! This is beyond doubt."[6]