“O Lord, righteousness belongs to you (is what is yours), but to us confusion of face as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass which they have trespassed against you.”
He first acknowledges that God has been totally righteous in all His dealings with Israel. No blame could be set at His door. He had done all, and more than all, of what could have been expected. But His people, on the other hand, could only avoid His gaze in confusion, for they had failed Him utterly. The Hebrew is succint, ‘to You, honour, to us, dishonour'.
As a trained administrator Daniel distinguishes the three sections of Israel, Jerusalem, (which always saw itself as a separate city), Judah and all Israel, although in Daniel 1:3; Daniel 1:6 he uses the names interchangeably. Thus perhaps ‘all Israel' is to be seen as including the others. But wherever Israel is found all will suffer confusion of face, inability to look God or good men in the face, because of the way in which they have broken His laws and done what they should not. And this is demonstrated by the fact that they have been scattered among the nations because of it.