Daniel 9:21
As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- adhuc me loquente in oratione, ecce vir Gabriel, quem videram in visione a principio, cito volans tetigit me in tempore sacrificii vespertini.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἔτι ἐμοῦ λαλοῦντος ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ Γαβριὴλ ὃν ἴδον ἐν τῇ ὁράσει ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ πετόμενος, καὶ ἥψατό μου ὡσεὶ ὥραν θυσίας ἑσπερινῆς.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְע֛וֹד אֲנִ֥י מְדַבֵּ֖ר בַּתְּפִלָּ֑ה וְהָאִ֣ישׁ גַּבְרִיאֵ֡ל אֲשֶׁר֩ רָאִ֨יתִי בֶחָז֤וֹן בַּתְּחִלָּה֙ מֻעָ֣ף בִּיעָ֔ף נֹגֵ֣עַ אֵלַ֔י כְּעֵ֖ת מִנְחַת עָֽרֶב
Haydock's commentary
The man Gabriel. The angel Gabriel in the shape of a man. (Challoner) (Chap. viii. 16.)
Sacrifice, between the two vespers, (Numbers xxviii. 4.) after the ninth hour, which was a time of prayer, Acts iii. 1. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian On Fasting, Chapter X
At all events, Saul himself, when engaged in battle, manifestly enjoined this duty: “Cursed (be) the man who shall have eaten bread until evening, until I avenge me on mine enemy;” and his whole people tasted not (food), and (yet) the whole earth was breakfasting! So solemn a sanction, moreover, did God confer on the edict which enjoined that Station, that Jonathan the son of Saul, although it had been in ignorance of the fast having been appointed till a late hour that he had allowed himself a taste of honey, was both presently convicted, by lot, of sin, and with difficulty exempted from punishment through the prayer of the People: for he had been convicted of gluttony, although of a simple kind. …
St Hippolytus On Daniel, Section III
Chap. ix. 21 “And, behold, the man Gabriel…flying.” You see how the prophet likens the speed of the angels to a winged bird, on account of the light and rapid motion with which these spirits fly so quickly in discharge of orders.
St Augustine On the Holy Trinity, The Essence of God Never Appeared in Itself. Divine Appearances to the Fathers Wrought by the Ministry of Angels. An Objection Drawn from the Mode of Speech Removed. That the Appearing of God to Abraham Himself, Just as that to Moses, Was Wrought by Angels. The Same Thing is Proved by the Law Being Given to Moses by Angels. What Has Been Said in This Book, and What Remains to Be Said in the Next
25. Can there be any one who will say that the Lord appeared to Moses by an angel, but to Abraham by Himself? Let us not answer this question from Stephen, but from the book itself, whence Stephen took his narrative. For, pray, because it is written, “And the Lord God said unto Abraham;” and a little after, “And the Lord God appeared unto Abraham;” were these things, for this reason, not done by angels? Whereas it is said in like manner in another place, “And the Lord appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;” and yet it is added immediately, “And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him:” of whom we have already spoken. …