Daniel 9:4

O Lord, the great and dreadful God— The emphatic ה is used before each of the epithets that follow, "the God, the great, the dreadful." This prayer, which is occasioned by the greatest and most sincere concern for the captive Jews, is the result also of the deepest humiliation, and expressive of the strongest energies and most earnest affections. Jeremiah, at chap. Jeremiah 29:12 had informed the people, that if they prayed and sought the Lord in their foreign land, they should be heard; and Daniel performs this duty for himself and his countrymen with the greatest zeal and devotion, especially acknowledging the justice of God and their own unworthiness. See a like prayer, chap. Daniel 9:4 and at Nehemiah 1:5.