Daniel 9

¹ It was in the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, a descendant of the Medes, who had been made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.

² In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books the number of years concerning which the word of the LORD had come to Jeremiah the prophet: seventy years for the desolation of Jerusalem to be completed.

³ I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him in prayer and supplication, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

⁴ I prayed to the LORD my God, confessed, and said, “Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps the covenant and steadfast love with those who love you and keep your commandments!

⁵ We have sinned, we have done wrong, acted wickedly, and rebelled; we have turned away from your commandments and your laws.

⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

⁷ Righteousness belongs to you, Lord, but shame covers our faces, as it does today: the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those nearby and those far away, in every land where you have driven them because of the unfaithfulness they committed against you.

⁸ LORD, shame covers our faces—our kings, our princes, and our ancestors—because we have sinned against you.

⁹ Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, for we have rebelled against him.

¹⁰ We have not listened to the voice of the LORD our God or walked in his laws, which he set before us through his servants the prophets.

¹¹ All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to listen to your voice. The curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against him.

¹² He carried out his word, which he had spoken against us and against our judges who judged us, bringing on us a great calamity. Nothing like what was done in Jerusalem has ever been done under all heaven.

¹³ As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us. Yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our guilt and understanding your truth.

¹⁴ The LORD kept watch over the calamity and brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works he does. But we have not listened to his voice.”

¹⁵ “And now, Lord our God, you brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made a name for yourself, as it is today. We have sinned and acted wickedly.

¹⁶ Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn your anger and fury away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Because of our sins and the guilt of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become a disgrace to everyone around us.

¹⁷ And now, our God, hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications, and let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary, for the Lord’s sake.

¹⁸ Incline your ear, my God, and hear; open your eyes and see our desolations and the city over which your name has been invoked. For we do not bring our supplications before you because of our righteous deeds, but because of your great compassion.

¹⁹ Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, attend and act; do not delay, for your own sake, my God, because your name has been invoked over your city and your people.”

²⁰ While I was still speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God,

²¹ while I was still speaking in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the vision at first, came flying swiftly and touched me at the time of the evening offering.

²² He gave me understanding and spoke with me. He said, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding.

²³ At the beginning of your supplications, a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. So understand the word and comprehend the vision.

²⁴ Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city: to put an end to transgression, bring sin to its conclusion, make atonement for guilt, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophet, and anoint the Most Holy.

²⁵ Know and understand this: from the issuing of the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the Prince, there will be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it will be rebuilt, with a square and a moat, but in troubled times.

²⁶ After the sixty-two weeks, the Anointed One will be cut off and have nothing. The people of a coming prince will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed.

²⁷ He will make a covenant firm with many for one week, and halfway through the week he will put an end to sacrifice and grain offering. And on the wing of abominations will come a desolator, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon the desolator.”

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