Daniel 9:20–27 are among the most difficult in the Bible. Yet what is written here is not some kind of secret code. It is true that you often see the more difficult passages of the Bible misused. You also see this happening with certain parts of Paul’s letters. Peter already writes about this: There are some things [in what Paul writes] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction; as they do the other Scriptures (2 Peter 3:16).

It is very important for the second part of Daniel 9 to keep in mind that the Lord is answering Daniel’s prayer for restoration of the city and the temple. It concerns the honour of God, the Lord who has promised to show again how he will work deliverance in Jerusalem and in the Promised Land. Daniel is praying. He says here that he does so for the sake of the holy hill of my God. This refers to the temple mount, to Zion.