Daniel’s Prayer and the Seventy Weeks: Chapter 9 is unique for three reasons. First, it starts with Daniel reading a prophetic text rather than receiving a vision as in the surrounding chapters (chs. 7, 8, and 10). Second, the particular name of Israel’s God, Yahweh, is only found in this chapter (vv. 2, 4, 8, 10, 13, 14, 20). Third, most of the chapter is taken up with a prayer. Elsewhere, the author makes clear that Daniel believed in talking to God (2:18; 6:10), but only here does he record the lengthy text of one of the prophet’s supplications (9:4b–19). Although Daniel 9 is mainly occupied by the prayer, the chapter transitions to apocalyptic revelation toward the end. God communicates his message to the seer via Gabriel (9:21). In this way the author links chapter 9 to chapter 8, by …