Daniel9:20

1: "throwing my sin"

The Hebrew text says “throwing my sin …” without telling whether he was throwing it down or up. But the fact that it was sin, rather than praise or thanksgiving, tell us that he was “throwing it down or casting it aside.”  “Throwing [down]” your sin means to “confess” your sin, to repudiate it, to say, “I don’t want to hold on to that stuff any longer.”

The root word underlying this word simply meant to thrust out the hand quickly. If the hand had something in it, and if thrusting it out sent that object flying, it would produce the idea of “throwing” something.

This same word can be used of throwing something a different direction, for it was used of sending God praise and thanks. One could call that throwing something up, but for Americans, “throwing up” means something totally different.

2

In order to “throw down” (confess) his sins, he “fell down” or “threw himself down” on the floor as a sign of humility and contrition. Two different words are used, but the action involved is quite similar.

3: “[to present]”

In my opinion a verb is missing here. Usually the combination of the participle “falling down,” which indicates one’s position, (i.e. being prostrate or face down before God which demonstrates humility) and the noun “supplication/request” is translated as “presenting one’s requests” before God. However, I wanted you to see that the only verb used here means “to fall down, to prostrate one’s self.” What you do with your requests once you are in the right position is left for the reader to assume.

4: “holy hill”

This is a reference to Jerusalem. Daniel was praying for Jerusalem and the fulfillment of the restoration God had spoken about regarding Jerusalem.