1This was in the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, who came from the Medes. He was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.
2In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books the number of the years. The word of the LORD had come to Jeremiah the prophet, saying that Jerusalem would lie in ruins for seventy years.
3So I turned my face to the Lord God, to seek him by prayer and pleading, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.
4I prayed to the LORD my God, and I made my confession, and said, "O Lord, the great and fearful God, who keeps the covenant and mercy with those who love him and keep his commandments;"
5we have sinned, and done wrong, and acted wickedly, and rebelled. We have turned away from your commands and from your judgments.
6We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our leaders, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but shame covers our faces, as it does today. This is true of the men of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have driven them, because they were unfaithful to you.
8O Lord, shame covers our faces, and the faces of our kings, our leaders, and our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
9Mercy and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, even though we have rebelled against him.
10We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God. We have not walked in his laws, which he set before us through his servants the prophets.
11Yes, all Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey your voice. So the curse has been poured out on us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12He has carried out the words he spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing a great evil upon us. Nothing has been done under the whole heaven like what has been done to Jerusalem.
13All this evil has come upon us, just as it is written in the law of Moses. Yet we did not pray before the LORD our God, so that we might turn from our sins and understand your truth.
14So the LORD watched over the evil and brought it upon us. The LORD our God is righteous in everything he does, but we did not obey his voice.
15And now, O Lord our God, you brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and won for yourself a name that lasts to this day. We have sinned, we have acted wickedly.
16O Lord, in keeping with all your righteousness, I beg you, turn away your anger and your fury from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. For because of our sins, and the wrongs of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by all who are around us.
17So now, our God, hear the prayer of your servant and his pleading. For the Lord's sake, make your face shine on your sanctuary, which lies in ruins.
18O my God, turn your ear and hear. Open your eyes and look at our ruins, and at the city that is called by your name. We are not bringing our requests to you because we are righteous, but because your mercies are great.
19"O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act. Do not delay, for your own sake, O my God. For your city and your people are called by your name."
20While I was still speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and bringing my request before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21yes, while I was still speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, came flying swiftly and touched me about the time of the evening offering.
22He explained things to me, and talked with me, and said, "O Daniel, I have now come out to give you skill and understanding."
23When you began to plead, the word went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly loved. So understand the matter, and think about the vision.
24Seventy weeks are decided upon your people and upon your holy city: to finish the wrongdoing, and to put an end to sins, and to make reconciliation for guilt, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25Know this, then, and understand: from the going out of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street will be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times.
26And after sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off, but not for himself. The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come like a flood, and to the end of the war ruin is decided.
27"He will confirm the covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will make the sacrifice and the offering cease. Because of the spreading of abominations he will make it desolate, until the end that is decreed is poured out on the desolate one."